Byo blooms at Intwasa 2012

 Ruru is the director’s PA. She is a bright – eyed back room player who handles the tedium of the admin work that goes into putting together the biggest  show of the year in Bulawayo every year along side other colleagues and volunteers. 
Alongside celebrated Arts officionado Raisedon  Baya who is current  Intwasa Arts Festival director, nothing beats this baby for variety and the creative juices it causes to flow through the city of Bulawayo in Spring. Heck ,we got home girl Dudu Manhenga and Color Blu coming down. We got Zimbabwe’s premier jazz exponents Cool Crooners strutting their stuff on the stage at The Bulawayo Rainbow at the Spring Jazz Night.
Young Afropop upstart, Alexio Kawara rounds off the line up. He is a curious but excusable addition. Pop music is pop music. It is popular and there is something to be said for adding a pop singer like Alexio in terms of crowd pull. This is not to say that without him Intwasa will not be the roaring success it is going to be.
There is world renowned Mookomba band sharing a platform with Otis Ngwabi  supported by Delta. The festival is also proud host to the eponymous play  “Stisha” – a Cont Mhlanga original that is being produced by Qhube Productions under Sihlangu Dlodlo’s canny guidance to name a few highlights. The programme that is laden with theatre performances, traditional dance, poetry , visual arts exhibition, a  book and magazine launch, jazz , hip hop and arts management workshops.
So what is the importance of the festival? 
Baya : The festival creates a platform for all arts disciplines, that is theatre , film, dance arts and crafts. It is an opportunity for members of the community to consume a lot of artistic products on one platform. At a community level we can use the festival to focus on Bulawayo and highlights its attractiveness. There is also the aspect of cultural tourism and the potential for generating business downstream.
What is benefit to the artist?
It opens up the artist to a larger market as you know the festival is an  international festival as well we have people coming in from other countries.  The festival offers opportunities for linkages, training, growth for the artists. Okay, but we have HIFA and Chimanimani Arts Festival .
Do we really need another festival ?
Of course , the more festivals the better for the artists. It’s crucial that we have as many festivals as possible. It is like having more shops to sell our products. There is an aspect of cultural preservation, cultutral identity and the whole aspect of our Zimbabweanness. The bulk of our acts are Zimbabwean and we are mixing diversity drawing from as wide backgrounds as possible.
We have Zimbabwean narratives that speak volumes about our cultures.
A troubling thing to me is the fact that you have traditional supporters such as British Council, American Embassy, National Arts Council , Hivos, Culture Fiund Trust, SIDA but very few   business supporters such as Delta Beverages and others like Multi Media Box. Why are other businesses especially those that operate in the community like Telecel , Econet etc not on board ?
Baya: What I can say , without being specific , that when you approach the local offices they will tell you decisions are made at headquarters. When you go to headquarters they will tell you that they have funded Hifa or some such thing and their budget is exhausted. So there you are. Decisions are made in Harare.
But that is despite the fact that they operate and make money in your in the city?
Baya : They have their priorities. I can’t speak for them or explain their thinking but it is clear to me that Bulawayo is without doubt a crucible of the arts. ( Dorothy Masuku , Augustine Musarurwa, Cool Crooners, Lovemore Majaivana, world beating Iyasa, Insingizi , Siyaya , Oskido , Cont Mhlanga , Dudu Manhenga , Nothando Nobengula,, the late Dr Yvonne Vera come from  this city)
On another note, for a festival of this magnitude to succeed you need to have a multifaceted approach which comes through exposure to other platforms perhaps ?
Yes I have been exposed to quite a lot. For example I have been to Dance Foundation, Maitisong (Botswana) , Arts Alive (South Africa) , even Hifa. The learning is that you want to bring as many people to the festival as you possibly can. A key ingredient is programming because a good program brings good audiences. We have something for the young and old and performances by the young and old- family entertainment across the cultural divide.
What can individuals do ?
Baya : We would love individuals supporting the festival. They could specifically fund a performance by a particular group. They could buy tickets for the under privileged children. We have a a Friends of Intwasa project in the pipeline where individuals can donate say $50 and become our ambassadors who also get free passage into our shows in return.
INTWASA arts festival 2012 is themed “Bulawayo Blooming” and this is by no  means accidental. Intwasa is the Ndebele word for Spring- new life, new beginnings….The variety of genres on this year’s Intwasa Arts Festival is in the words of National Arts Council’s Provincial Arts Manager Mrs Nyathi a chance to “show people what Bulawayo is made of” . There is a rich vein of history underneath it all .There is a certain stubborn hopefulness about the future of not just this city , but of the nation as a whole. Intwasa Arts Festival is a missed opportunity for corporates to show their community interest. It is nonetheless the proverbial  artistic stew and I will be the chef that serves up what’s on the menu throughout. Granted I am a fan of the arts but I am pleased with this program. How can you fault a festival program that has an aspect of talent identification like Intwasa ‘s The Most Amazing Talents finale event ? I am sold.