Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
ORGANISERS of the Bulawayo Arts Festival (Baf), who are on a quest to promote young and raw talent, are set to give a platform to up-and-coming dancers, musicians, DJs and poets to showcase their talent through the High School Dance and Music Expo that they have introduced for this year’s edition.
The festival that will run from June 2 to 5 at different venues in the city will see the expo taking place on June 4 and 5 at the Bulawayo Amphitheatre from midday on both days.
Co-ordinator of the event, Thabani Moyo said the platform is targeting schoolgoing children and those who just left school.
“It’s a youth, music, dance, deejaying and poetry show where we’re targeting mostly young artistes at school and those who have just finished school. Our cut-off age will be 23 years,” said Moyo.
He said the platform will serve as a breakthrough for the young artistes with those above 23 years old and possess artistic attributes, set to be incorporated into the main festival’s programmes.
“For the expo, we want those below 23 years old, but because we’re aware that there’re some who are older than that and also need the platform to sharpen their skills, we’ve decided to also incorporate them. Those above 23 will therefore have the rare opportunity to be part of the main festival.”
Baf recently introduced an ecotourism visual arts competition for primary and secondary schools in Bulawayo as a way of promoting the city’s domestic tourism.
Adhering to Covid-19 regulations, the fete which was held virtually last year, will this year see quite a number of events being staged physically and virtually with all happenings set to be streamed online on the Baf TV channel. – @mthabisi_mthire
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