Stage set for Hifa

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Arts lovers and stakeholders are breathing a sigh of relief after organisers of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa) have officially declared that the fiesta will go on as planned.

Arts lovers and stakeholders are breathing a sigh of relief after organisers of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa) have officially declared that the fiesta will go on as planned.

By Kennedy Nyavaya

Wide speculation pointing at the failure of the annual fête to take place had spread like wild fire, clouding its prospects in the build-up.

But, running under the theme Hifa 2017- Staging an Intervention, this year’s edition which aims to bring relief to the hard-pressed Zimbabweans through art, is scheduled to stretch from Tuesday to Sunday.

Speaking to journalists at a press conference on Friday evening, the six-day event’s founder and artistic director Manuel Bagoro said they had reverted to the original format to avoid ruining it.

“Where the magic of Hifa lives is in the six-day format, that’s why we are all back here,” he said.

Owing to financial constraints and an urge to experiment, the organisers last year stretched the programme into satellite shows which were hosted over months, but that failed to amuse arts lovers who ruled it out as a non-event.

“We realised that there was something like a melting pot, a sort of chemical reaction that happens during the six days in the centre of our beautiful capital city where there are challenges but there are also enormous joys and laughter,” said Bagoro.

He added that against all odds, the Hifa team had been encouraged by a need to disrupt the ordinary to make sure each moment is filled with creative impulse when festival goers meet at the Harare Gardens venue.

“It is that coming together that is so powerful which makes us absolutely delighted and proud, grateful and excited to be back with you on the verge of presenting these six days,” he said.

Hifa executive director Maria Wilson called it “a miracle” that the event had taken shape, as she pointed out that the fiesta has grown since 1999 into an event that defines the Zimbabwean life.

“It was a case of saying we are going to pull out this international event that is supposed to happen in our capital city and we are going to make it happen by sheer force of will if necessary but we are going to do it and that is where we are,” she said.

Regarded as the biggest fête in the land, Hifa has offered opportunities to both local and international artists to showcase their talents in front of diverse audiences in Harare.

Faced by an uninspiring backdrop of a shrinking economy and deteriorating buying power among arts lovers, the organisers have remained resolute in confronting the ugly reality haunting the annual event.