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Mbulelo Mpofu, Showbiz Reporter
AN ‘unusual’ Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo has come and gone. Workshops, theatre plays, music, and poetry as well as the premiering of films were done and it is time to reflect on how the flagship arts festival was conducted.
The festival commenced last Tuesday with the screening of community films at Matshobana Hall and the pinnacle of it all was the showcase of the Vagina Monologues on Friday. One would note that the festival was held in December, a rare occurrence from the ‘normal’ springtime that it is usually held.
In an interview with our sister paper Sunday News last year, Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo director Raisedon Baya said that Intwasa was ready to up the ante on a season characterised by musical shows where international acts headline proceedings.
“The festive season is as competitive as ever. Already, there are more than four or five big shows that are happening in December and these shows are about making money and business. That’s where you will find your biggest artistes performing and the largest number of people because the promoters are looking for those kinds of events,” said Baya.
Indeed, organisers of the festival were ready to go toe to toe with the big boys, lining up a plethora of creative programmes to entertain and educate art lovers.
One cannot review the festival without looking at the organisation of every facet of the programmes. For programmes to be successful, knowledge of the subject matter must be considered and from the workshops conducted, the festival was able to invite personnel well-versed with the knowledge and skillset to conduct the classes.
Case in point, the digital art workshop was facilitated by Harare-based award-winning entrepreneur, content marketer and artist manager Phil Chard while the Music Industry Incubator Workshop focusing on songwriting and the “Arts
Reporting and Reviewing Workshop” were facilitated by Grammy-nominated producer Daecolm and veteran journalists Robert Mukondiwa and Busani Bafana respectively. This level of organisation must be commended and other event organisers may need to take a leaf from this.
Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo surely was about making sure that communities are catered for and this was achieved through the types of venues they used. Apart from the usual National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, Music Academy and the Bulawayo Amphitheatre, some of the programmes were taken to the Bulawayo Public Library and the screening of community films was held at Matshobana Hall. This is a bold statement that showed that the festival is inclusive.
Of course, the festival still had some loose ends that needed to be tied. There is surely room for improvement.
Planning and communication were poorly done as creatives and the public were not notified of some of the programmes on time. For example, the Music Industry Incubator Workshop was communicated late and this resulted in a low turnout as the masses were ignorant of the event.
But all in all, the festival surely reconnected after a forced spell of inactivity due to Covid-19 restrictions and above all, art lovers were satisfied with what they saw and hope for more of the same this year. – @eMKlass_49
Online Reporter