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Langalakhe Mabena
The Bulawayo Arts Festival (BAF) — an initiative by the city council meant to celebrate Bulawayo’s culture and diversity through artistic means, did not live up to its billing, if the crowds that graced some of the events so far were anything to go by.
The festival ran from 2 June and is expected to end today (7 June) with Imbokodo: Her Voice, Her Power Concert starting at 6pm at the Large City Hall. Some of the female creatives who will take to the stage include the multi-award winning Gospel Jazz songbird Vuyo Brown, Nkwali, Thandy Dhlana and hip- hop sensation Noluntu J, among others.
Another major highlight of the festival was the Inxwala memorial performance lecture which was coordinated by Gog’ Bekezela. Culture enthusiasts who attended the event included Chief Dakamela, Dr Gasolo, Madlela Skhobokhobo, Ashely Siwela and Ntando Ndlovu, among others.
The festival was youthful with a number of youth-motivated events like the Wear Culture Exhibition and Documentary screening and the Youth Concert which was held at Inyathi Youth Centre in Mpopoma.
Despite the festival running for the fourth time since its enactment in 2021, the numbers of audiences have been stagnant. One of the reasons which could have made the people of Bulawayo lose interest in the festival was the debate which was sparked by the city fathers surrounding the funding of the festival.
Information made public was that councillors were haggling over sponsoring the festival to the tune of US$300 000, yet the actual budget from council was US$30 000. Some councillors believed the money to be injected in the running of BAF was going to be useful if channelled towards other projects the city.
The actions by the councillors portrayed BAF as an event that is irrelevant, argued some artists. An arts practitioner and commentator Desire Moyo believes that councillors were supposed to embrace the budget for the arts activities so that city residents can celebrate who they are through their culture. He said despite the challenges that the city is facing, there will always be a need to celebrate “little achievements” — something which is one of the objectives of BAF.
“I attended the official opening of BAF and an event which was headlined by Black Umfolosi. There was this talk again with some councillors saying the budget for the festival is too much, with some actually suggesting that the money was supposed to be channelled towards fighting water challenges. I know that a person can be thirsty, but after drinking a cup of water you need to go back to who you are. The principle of our foundation as the people of Bulawayo is our culture which we say is our pride.
“I know the issue about water has been perennial and the city council has been trying to make sure the city has access to clean water. Back to the issues surrounding the budget for BAF, the problem we have as a people is embracing in totality the different cultures that identify Bulawayo and give it space to breathe.
“If councillors ignored the fact that this (BAF) is the people’s identity — if they were against the project knowing its value to the people and culture, then it’s unfortunate. At the end of the day, a budget is a budget and it can be trimmed down considering other issues that the council is facing like the water crisis. What we have to understand and cultivate is that people need to celebrate who they are during that festival. So if the city fathers are against uniting people for a cause that will allow them to celebrate the achievements of Bulawayo through different cultural events, then that will cause it to be not popular amongst the people themselves,” said Moyo.
Award-winning arts curator Kudakwashe Takundwa said for the festival to resonate with the people of Bulawayo,
“residents should be involved by spreading the word through sharing the excitement about the festivities. It will be an advantage if the festival also curates more grassroots based activities that can take place at community halls and centres.
“It will be exciting to have activities at council run schools where during that week some artistes can visit schools to impact knowledge and do brief performances for the pupils. This can easily help in spreading the news about the festival. The festival week also coincides with the launch of the Culture Week which can be used as an advantage to tap into schools,” said Takundwa.
Online Reporter