THE Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) has evolved into an events management organisation.
After 16 years of existence, organisers said it was time for the festival to contribute more to arts and culture through introducing as well as organising more enriching programmes.
Addressing journalists at a press conference held recently in Harare, HIFA executive director Maria Wilson said it was time for the organisation to expand.
“Sixteen years in the arts and culture industry is something we cannot ignore,” said Wilson.
“In the next 13 months, we are building towards one of the most phenomenal of programmes which is going to be HIFA 2017,” said Wilson.
Wilson said HIFA would now operate throughout the year.
She said the expansion of activities was meant to create more platforms for Zimbabwean artistes to grow their skills.
Dubbed a ‘365-day a year Festival’, the new areas of programming will see HIFA expanding its influential position in the social-cultural landscape of the country.
The question is: How will HIFA expand its ‘influential’ position in the social spectrum of Zimbabwe?
The founder and artistic director of HIFA, Manuel Bagorro, said the organisation would introduce five areas of programming.
He said the programmes would run throughout the year offering performances, exhibitions and community engagement projects, high entertainment sports events, audience development initiatives and high-quality event management services.
Explaining the five programme areas, Bagorro said, ‘HIFA Presents’ would offer weekends filled with intense arts programming throughout the year, complemented by major stand-alone performances.
“We are not changing much, it is just trying different ways to get the same end,” he said.
Bagorro said, ‘HIFA Events’ provide first-class professional services for conferences, brand launches, corporate, diplomatic and private events.
The festival, according to Bagorro, will introduce ‘HIFA Play’ which will produce major, high-entertainment and high production sports events.
“It is looking at sports events with high production and entertainment values, so in other words, it is great sports events infused with the arts,” said Bagorro.
Bagorro said, ‘HIFA Engage’ would roll out four major education and community projects running over the next 18 months, culminating in HIFA 2017.
There is going to be HIFA’s Travelling Arts Manufactory which is a professional development involving skills exchange and field support programme working across the country.
‘HIFA Engage’ will see the organising of meetings, symposiums and collaborative brainstorming conversations aimed at ‘strengthening and emboldening’ the Zimbabwean cultural sector.
HIFA 2017, therefore, will showcase the artistic outcomes of the various programmes running throughout the year and across the country.
“The absence of the famous six-day festival in 2016 does not mean the non-existence of HIFA, but its visibility will be showcased throughout the new programmes,” said the organisers.
The programmes will pave way for the preparation of the six-day festival of 2017 which will be headlined by the theme ‘HIFA 2017’.
HIFA is popularly known as a six-day annual festival which started in 1999.
Although an annual event, it has received criticism from various quarters that argue the festival is a haven for gays and lesbians.
During its early years, HIFA was a controversial and elitist platform that accommodated foreign artistes only, while local artistes were sidelined.
In 2013, Bagorro once paved way for one Gavin Peters amid reports that he was involved in efforts to effect regime change in the country.
It was his former visit to Serbia with some Zimbabwean youths, who were allegedly schooled to effect regime change through social networks, that put him in the spotlight prior to his stepping down.
It is alleged that the youths who travelled with Bagorro to Serbia were offered courses in strategic communications, mobilisation, advocacy and social media skills, to the tune of US$40 524 sponsored by Michael Straresinic of Casals and Associates, a regime change outfit.
Bagorro, however, returned as the festival’s boss in 2014 and immediately courted controversy after HIFA invited South African-based group Freshly Ground.
The group was deported after touching down at Harare International Airport.
Freshly Ground in 2010 released a song, ‘Chicken to Change’ that questioned the legitimacy of President Robert Mugabe despite the fact he had been duly elected by the majority.
The song condemns President Mugabe for his revolutionary stunt in defending Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and his refusal to be a puppet of Western imperialists.
The presence of the group in Zimbabwe was unpalatable to self-respecting Zimbabweans.
One hopes the introduction of the new programmes by HIFA will result in increased promotion of local arts and culture.