The Amaka Arts Festival is the first Zambian international multi-disciplinary arts festival set to add value to the Zambian arts market and will be held in Lusaka from the 8th to the 14th of October 2012. It is designed to provide an internationally recognized market to expose the rich Zambian culture through its arts.
With the support of the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs through the National Arts Council (NAC), and Dr Charlotte Harland Scott, the Vice President of Zambia’s wife and our Patron for the festival, we are organising the first ever international arts festival in Zambia called the Amaka Arts Festival.
The Amaka Festival is designed to embrace culture through art with the motive to develop the creative industries into sustainable industries that will contribute to the national development. As a youth friendly festival that will mainstream gender and HIV/AIDS in all of its programmes, our goal is to not only expose Zambians to the different genres of art, but utilise it as a catalyst to educate people about HIV/AIDS and gender issues. Partners and participants will be coming from West Africa, Southern Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe and the US.
The visual arts expo will exhibit Zambia’s finest sculptures, pottery, paintings and hand crafts. Ten marquees will be set up with artefacts from 10 provinces of Zambia.
The film festival will be a colourful event that will showcase Zambia’s film talent and films around Africa at large. The Amaka Film Festival will also offer a platform to create an opportunity for the struggling young film makers through networking with funders and will offer an opportunity for them to win a film grant.
During the dance festival, six Zambian dance troupes will showcase dances from the ten provinces. As a way of sharing our rich cultural inheritance with the world and the younger generation, the dance festival will be accompanied by brief narrations of the cultural heritage preserved within each dance.
Fashion is an art that is slowly growing in Zambia. The Amaka fashion show will showcase some of Zambia’s best designers bring together some of the best continental and world designers in a unique set up enlighten the festival with style.
Over the years, the reading culture in Zambia has been dropping. Through the literary arts festival, diverse genre materials will be showcased. With poetry readings, writers’ workshops and display of books written by and about Zambians, Amaka will work with stakeholders in re-establishing a high reading culture in Zambia.
This is a step ahead..I think we need such festivals to promote our culture here in Zambia. Keep it up organisers and all the would-be attendants..
zambiaassociationofmusicians@yahoo.com is the official email address of ZAM. Kindly get in touch with the secretariat through this contact.
Callen Moses Chisha (2wice)
GENERAL SECRETARY
Revolutionary, Zambia is definately growing stronger–not only through sport
Brilliant – this is the change we have been waiting for!!!