THE annual Protest Arts International Festival (PAIF) roars into life next week with an array of performances from in and outside the country. SILENCE CHARUMBIRA ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
Running on December 12 and 13, the festival has this year had to be limited to the compact Nicoz Diamond Theatre due to the venue crisis in the capital city.
Traditionally, the festival has been held at the Harare Gardens with musical performances being held in the plush venue while other genres of art are held in offsite spaces and stages.
But after the Harare City Council banned musical performances at the venue and of course the on-going Zanu PF National Congress being held at the Civic Grounds/Sunset Arena now renamed Robert Mugabe Square; the organisers grappled with finding another venue.
Savannah Trust, organisers of the festival, told NewsDay that apart from the scarcity of funding, they have been experiencing challenges with securing a venue for the festival.
“There are a few other spaces that we considered, but the cost factor deterred us from going ahead with those spaces and we have managed to partner with NicozDiamond who have expressed willingness to work with us,” Savannah Trust director Daniel Maposa said.
He said they had to resort to trimming the festival to just include mainly theatre, stand-up comedy and poetry and will not be having the traditional musical gala that is often the major draw card.
Among the foreign productions will be plays from Mozambique and South Africa.
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The theatre programme will also include a play by Leeroy Gono titled The Greyman Experiment, Jasen Mphepo’s 1 000 miles and another commissioned by Savannah Trust titled The Civil Servants written by Thabani Moyo.
Doc Vikela, Michael K and Lewis the Prince of Comedy make up the stand-up comedy programme with Brian Geza’s Zvishamiso Dance and Plot Mhako’s Jibilika catering for the dance category.
Maposa said this year’s festival will provide an intimate affair for revellers.
The festival outreach programme that last year took to Gutu and Mabvuku will this year be held in Domboshava where it will run under the theme Break The Chains.
While the festival’s growth has been slow owing to various challenges like funding and several others dogging the creative sector, what is worrying is the unwillingness of government and other stakeholders to ably support the sector.
The sector remains underfunded while many still view arts activities as pastime instead of an industry and an economy driver.
