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Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
ORGANISERS of this year’s Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo say new products and acts are needed for the festival to grow.
A total of 81 artistes have submitted proposals to be part of Intwasa with music having the largest number at 32. Eight musical groups are needed for the music show lined up for the festival.
The festival, which celebrates 10 years this year, is running under the theme “Unforgettable” from September 23 to 27.
Intwasa Arts Festival director Raisedon Baya said there were few new concepts submitted by groups and individuals annually.
“I have submissions from groups who just want to perform. Do they have a product like a production house where you have a film or a new song?
For the sake of the growth of the festival, artistes should bring new productions and acts,” he said.
Baya said there were only two new concepts that were submitted — a comedy night and a fashion show.
“I have one slot for comedy and there are three proposals and one slot for fashion and there are three proposals. This is what we are talking about for the festival to grow. We need new concepts and something the audience can look forward to,” he said.
Theatre has been part of Intwasa and this year there are only five plays that are going to be showcased down from 10 last year.
According to Baya, organisers wanted to increase competition so that they improve the quality resulting in fewer slots for most shows this year.
“I want five plays this year and I have 16 proposals for theatre. This is deliberate as we want to promote quality as the increased competition will do so. At Intwasa there are 40 events and apart from workshops that are always there we will be left with 27 slots,” added Baya.
He said their dream was to hold a massive closing ceremony to mark the 10th year anniversary of the festival and the 120th year anniversary for Bulawayo.
“We want to do a closing ceremony to remember, in fact a shut down. We have a lot of plans that we have and it will probably be a music concert on the Saturday. This will mark two things of significance, the Intwasa’s 10th year and Bulawayo’s 120th year celebrations,” he said.
Baya said they were in talks with the city fathers to see how Bulawayo City Council and Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo could complement each other.
derick.khumalo