Final Communiqué : Zimbabwe Festival Managers Workshop

We the managers and representatives of the undersigned cultural festivals gathered in Harare, Zimbabwe on the occasion of the Zimbabwe Festival Workshop (26^th-28 June 2013) wish to express our gratitude to Nhimbe Trust the convener of the workshop and the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for funding the workshop on the capacity building of managers of cultural festivals in Zimbabwe. We also recognize the valuable collaboration, guidance and participation of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe in hosting a success workshop.

We recognize the importance of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions that encourages the growth of regional and national markets for creative goods and services. We are convinced that this successful workshop for festival managers is an important national effort in the implementation of the 2005 Convention.

We believe that the growth of arts and culture networks and associations in Zimbabwe over the last decade has impacted positively in sharing of information, building capacity, creating more opportunities for artists to participate more effectively in advocacy and lobbying for enabling environments that support the flourishing of cultural festivals at national, regional and international levels.

We note with concern ,the presence of administrative, social, economic and political  factors that have  impacted negatively  on  the development of  the Zimbabwean cultural sector in  general and the viability and sustainability of cultural festivals in particular  during this decade .

We are delighted to note that  the new Constitution  of Zimbabwe that upholds cultural rights of all the people  has created  opportunities for the review and reform of cultural governance frameworks that guarantee the full potential of cultural industries  and the harnessing of the rich diversity of cultural expressions for social and economic development of all communities in Zimbabwe.

We have been made aware, during this workshop of the relative isolation in which festivals in Zimbabwe  operate  and have noted the need for festival managers  to share ideas, knowledge and experiences as well as the need for critical, personal and professional skills development in the Zimbabwean creative and cultural  sector as a whole.

We believe that festivals are both key markets in themselves for Zimbabwean artists and creative goods as well as being vital platforms to projecting Zimbabwean artists and their work into global markets.

We also believe that the Zimbabwean creative sector should take greater responsibility for its own sustainability; that  there is much that Zimbabwean festivals can learn from each other in order to improve their own governance, programming, fundraising, marketing and management and that festivals can have a positive impact in addressing some of Zimbabwe’s key  development, such as rapid urbanization, growing youth unemployment, dwindling opportunities,  wealth creation,  while being vital vehicles  for promoting and defending human rights, facilitating social cohesion and inclusions and fuller participation of the  people in their cultural life.

We recall that cultural festivals should be considered as enablers of communal celebration, wellspring of creativity and vehicle for intergeneration and transmission of cultural heritage as articulated in the UNESCO 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and as inherent in the programmes of the Zimbabwe National Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee.

We THEREFORE resolve to establish the Zimbabwe Festivals Network as a major result of this Workshop. The Zimbabwe Festivals Network is a professional association with the Objectives to:

·         Network Zimbabwean festivals operating within and across various genres in order to share knowledge, expertise, programming content and best practice experience;

·         Consolidate and expand existing circuits and to develop and promote new circuits of discipline-based and multi-disciplinary and regionally based festivals as a means of distributing Zimbabwean creative work and providing longer income-generating opportunities for artists;

·         Build and consolidate financial, organisational and leadership capacity within Zimbabwean festivals in order  to ensure their effectiveness and sustainability;

·         Promote and defend freedom of creative expression in Zimbabwe;

·         Help market Zimbabwean festivals nationally, regionally and internationally both as platforms for Zimbabwean creative expression, but also to increase markets and own-income for such festivals;

·         Advocate and lobby on behalf of Zimbabwean festivals for  an enabling environment  that supports the flourishing of cultural festivals;

·         Seek and promote mutually beneficial international partnerships for Zimbabwean cultural festivals;

·         Research and provide information, tools and ideas that will enhance Zimbabwean cultural festivals.

We also resolve that:

·         An Interim Steering Committee elected today from representative of festivals gathered here today,  shall  govern and lead the Zimbabwe Festivals Network for the next two years in pursuit of the  agreed  objectives and to take further action to implement  the recommendations arising out of this  workshop which shall be contained in the Report of the Worksop;

·         The interim Steering Committee  should proceed to consider such matters as the establishment of organisation’s  location  , composition  and  functions;

·         The interim Steering Committee to finalise the constitution of Zimbabwe Festivals Network of whose draft is also a result of the workshop;

·         The Interim Steering Committee should embark on a membership drive and to engage registered members in contributing, in whichever ways, to grow the effectiveness and sustainability of the Network.

 The Steering Committee of ZFN elected on this day comprises the following:

1.      Intwasa Arts Festival                                                      Runyararo Mutandi

2.      Rainbow Province Arts Festival                                    Page Konnesh

3.      Dzimbahwe Arts Festival                                               Brian Banda

4.      HIFA                                                                                 Maria Wilson

5.      Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust                Nigel Munyati

Participants: Zimbabwe Festival Managers Workshop

Festival                                                                                 Name of Representative

1.      Intwasa Arts Festival                                                      Runyararo Mutandi

2.      Rainbow Province Arts Festival                                    Page Konnesh

3.      Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust               Nigel Munyati

4.      Dzimbahwe Arts Festival                                                Brian Banda

5.      HIFA                                                                                 Maria Wilson

6.      Kumakomoyo Arts Festival (Kafest)                             Thandani Ndlovu

7.      Rushinga Arts Festival (RAAF)                                      Mapfumo Zvenyika

8.      International Images Film Festival for Women            Yvonne Jila    

9.      Macfest Zimbabwe                                                          Joe Wailer

10.  Zimbabwe Youth Festival                                                Ashton Bumhura                  

11.  Murewa Uzumba  Pfungwe Cultural Festival (MUCUF)-Cynthia Mungofa

12.  Mbende Jerusalem Festival                                            Ronald Diza

13.  Jikinya Dance Festival                                                     Caroline Makoni

14.  Protest Arts International Festival                                Margaret Mutsamvi

15.  Great Limpopo Cultural Fair                                         Manatsa Kuzomuka

16.  Bulawayo Culture Festival                                             Butshilo Nleya

17.  Flame of Jahunda                                                            Brian Ndlovu

18.  Shangano Arts Festival                                                   Petros Ndhlovu

19.  Ibumba Festival                                                               Saimon Mambazo

In CONCLUSION, we invite festival managers who were not able to attend this workshop to express their views of the results of this workshop, and to interact with the undersigned festivals concerning this Press Release and contents of the workshop, which will be extensively distributed to festivals managers and national associations of cultural operators, public cultural institutions, the mass media and international arts and cultural associations and networks.

                                          

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