The Sunday News
I FIRST applied to attend the atelier sometime in 2011. I remember it was a few months after coming from the World Conference on Arts and Culture which took place in South Africa. The experience in South Africa had changed the way I wanted to present art or even consume it. That experience in South Africa taught me that art was as important as the food we eat everyday and ever since
I have wanted to share that with anyone who cares to listen. So when I got a positive response from Singapore 2011 I was over the moon. Here was my chance to expand my horizon and come back home and change the arts scene in Bulawayo, and perhaps Zimbabwe as a whole, so I thought. Unfortunately, I failed to attend Singapore 2011. I failed to attend Ljubljana 2012, Beirut 2013, and Edinburgh 2014.
The serious hurdle was raising the conference fees and airfares all amounting to more than 3 000 euros. Yes, more than 3 000 euros! That is a fortune. I could count more than a dozen things one can do with that kind of money. In fact, of the more than 35 arts festivals registered in Zimbabwe most operate on less than $4 000 budget every year.
So I had all but given up on attending any atelier when Africalia Belgium came to the rescue. This was through the Zimbabwe Festival Network. When I first applied for the atelier in 2011 the Zimbabwe Festivals Network was just an idea in some of our minds. Now it’s here and within a year of coming into existence it has managed to send a delegation of four festival managers to Poznan 2014.
That is a serious achievement! And all goes to show the power in numbers and networks. There is a Shona saying that goes: one finger cannot crush lice. Alone, without the Zimbabwe Festivals Network, I could still be scratching my head and counting Poznan 2014 as another missed opportunity.
Now all I can say is that years of dreaming have come to fruition. I am excited to be part of Poznan 2014. Coming from a place where most festivals are managed more from instinct and improvisation than from bookish knowledge the atelier is obviously a chance of a lifetime. I go to the atelier with expectations dating back almost four years. I go with an open mind, expecting to be blown away. From the little that I have heard so far I am super excited about the fact that the atelier is not a workshop or conference but a space to share ideas and experiences. That is exciting as more than 45 festivals will be represented.
If I could learn one or two things about at least half of the festivals that will be at Poznan 2014 I will definitely come back home much richer and ready to push Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo to another level. I go to Poznan 2014 hoping to be inspired to grow as a person and in the process help the festival I represent and by extension help the Zimbabwe Festivals Network move to the next level, especially in terms of festival management. I also go to the atelier ready to share the Zimbabwean festival experience with anyone willing to listen. I want to share the experiences of running a festival with a skeleton staff and a shoe-string budget.
But my biggest hope is to network with other festivals and hopefully create relationships that could result in future collaborations and exchanges. The theme and topics are perfect as they cover crucial elements of programming. Some of the topics to be covered include:
How to articulate, develop and realise an artistic programme?
What is the role of festivals as platforms for creation and innovation?
What are the risks of programming and how to manage them.
What are new models of collaboration in a global world?
How can large scale festivals continue to make sharp choices, even for bigger audiences?
Atelier Poznan 2014 is being hosted by the European Festivals Network in conjunction with Malta Festival Poznan. It will run from 20-27 September in Poland.
