adminThe festival is expected to run for three days and it is going to run from 24 up to 27 October.
Festival director Petros Ndlovu told Saturday Leisure that preparations for the only festival in Matabeleland North region were now at an advanced stage.
“The official opening of this year’s festival is going to be held in Binga mainly because we want them to be part of this festival.
“The ceremony will be held on 25 October at Kariangwe Mission,” he said.
Ndlovu said Shangano would this year be held in October to accommodate Tonga people who are usually busy in December.
“The Tonga people are well-known farmers who are usually busy especially in December and this time we decided to move our festival to October to accommodate them,” he said.
Ndlovu said they have also invited a couple of groups from Zambia to be part of the event.
“This festival is going to be used as a platform for cultural and ideas exchange, as we speak we are going to be having groups coming from Zambia.
“During the festival we are going to have different workshops that are going to help artistes in different ways,” he said.
Ndlovu said at the moment he had received confirmation from six groups who would be coming from different parts of the country.
“Some of the groups that have confirmed to be part of this festival include Amakhosi Dance Troop from Bulawayo and Makhesh from Victoria Falls.
“Our festival sponsors promised to give us a full list of some of the groups that have also confirmed with them to be part of the festival,” he said.
Some of the companies that are funding this year’s festival include Culture Fund Trust, Hwange Colliery and Environmental Africa.
“We are still looking for more sponsors for this year’s festival,” he said.
Shangano Arts Festival is an annual event that started in 2007 and the festival is a platform for exposure of local groups that include Idwala Elikhulu, Black Amakhwezi and Ubuntu Bobuntu.
Online Reporter