Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Wonder Guchu
28 November 2007
Harare — Lack of sponsorship, commitment and infrastructure in some Southern African countries contributed to the demise of the arts festival meant to create a mutual understanding among the people of the region.
The festival - a product of the then Sadc Sector of Culture and Information - sought to promote cultural industries as a way of exploiting their capabilities to alleviate poverty, generate employment and contribute to economic growth.
Zimbabwe held two festivals, the inaugural regional music festival in 1995 and the dance festival in 2001, while Mozambique hosted the theatre festival in 1997. Namibia held an arts and crafts festival in 2000 with South Africa playing host to the first ever multi-disciplinary festival where 12 Sadc countries participated in 2003.
Botswana that was supposed to host the next multi-disciplinary arts festival failed and no other country offered to take up the challenge. Although most Sadc countries admitted that the festivals were fundamental in the promotion, interaction, networking and mutual understanding among the people of the region, governments were not committed and were not forthcoming with funding. In his opening address at a Sadc Inter-Ministerial conference on the role and place of culture in the regional integration agenda held in Mozambique in November 2000, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano urged member states to consider cultural industries seriously in light of globalisation.
The conference strongly affirmed the role of Sadc Arts and Culture Festivals as fundamental in the promotion, interactions, networking and mutual understanding among the people of the region.
Despite this, the region did not do much when it came to preparations for the events, a task that was left to hosting countries. Even artists' organisations from participating nations were not part of the preparations, resulting in overburdening the host nations. For example South Africa spent R4 500 000 when it hosted the multi-disciplinary festival that was attended by 520 participants.
It was largely because the region did not consider the festival as an important thing that it failed to meet the festival's objectives. Zimbabwe's former Secretary for Education, Sports and Culture Stephen Chifunyise - who also sat on the organising committee of the Sadc Arts and Culture Festival - noted that the festivals were never used to build the Sadc community as intended. According to Chifunyise, the festival was supposed to build the Sadc community and to achieve this objective the festival was to become a very regular occasion that brings the ordinary people of the member states together. Through this event, he says, the people of the region would know each other's cultures and appreciate their common origin and the arts and culture festival was therefore expected to enable the community to regularly celebrate its rich cultural diversity.
Chifunyise also says the event was expected to foster the growth of cultural industries that would contribute to the economic development of the community and the world at large was expected to patronise and consume effectively the region's arts and culture.
He points out that these cultural events were expected to become major tourist attractions and that through the missions of the Sadc member states in different parts of the world, a calendar of the region's arts and culture festivals would be distributed to tour operators, cultural promoters and artists organisations. "Through participation, artists were expected to form partnerships that were to initiate viable international performing arts tours and attract the attention of promoters who would then organise regular and viable performing arts tours in different member states," observed Chifunyise.
As a result of these shortcomings, Chifunyise says, the festivals were not held regularly and when they were held, they were not adequately promoted and this led to the festivals being low key and insignificant. Very few people consumed the arts and culture and in most cases only artists who participated crossed borders to attend the festivals.
The cost of holding these festivals was unbearable to most member states, while the idea of accommodating the private sector in funding the festivals was not taken up by the corporate world.
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