Harare — The inaugural African Youth Arts Festival that is scheduled to take place at the Girls High School in Harare on December 5 and 6 seeks to capacitate young artistes to use their art for social transformation.

The brainchild of the African Youth Arts Project, an affiliation of youths drawn from various art groups, schools, colleges and universities around the country, the festival will involve different art genres such as of music, dance, story telling, sculpture and theatre.

Groups expected to thrill during the festival include Zalabantu Dance Group, Shooting Stars Theatre Productions, Vuka Africa Theatre Company, Patsime Edutainment Trust, Amagangstars and upcoming jazz group Native Music, among others. One of the co-ordinators, Lloyd Nyikadzino, said the festival was in line with the African Youth Day commemorated annually on November 1. He said the festival's core objective was to capacitate young artistes through various art media to promote constructive dialogue for social transformation.

"By being the biggest constituency in the country, youths are key stakeholders in issues of national development," said Nyikadzino. He said the festival also targeted to bring marginalised artistes to the fore and share with their counterparts challenges, concerns and aspirations. "During the festival, we will be hosting skills transfer workshops aimed at mapping out ways of eradicating poverty and preserving African culture, thus empowering and safeguarding youths from idleness.

"In future, we would also want to involve regional art groups to make the event more African," he said. The United States Embassy and Savannah Trust are sponsoring the festival.