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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

THIS year’s Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, which will be held from September 20 to 27, will focus on giving audiences a memorable experience with event organisers saying they want to concentrate on quality programming, not quantity.

This was one of the key issues that came out during a consultative meeting with different players in the arts sector that was held on Monday in Bulawayo. 

Festival director Raisedon Baya said they were looking at upping the standards of the festival that has been running for the past 15 years. 

“We need to make this year’s festival an experience for people and give them quality events. For example, we want to create an atmosphere at the festival where people enjoy not only the acts on stage, but just being at the different events and venues,” said Baya.

During the discussion, one of the stakeholders said the festival should improve its standards.

“There’s a need for Intwasa to have high standards during the festival. When one looks at what happened at the Women Wine and Words, there were people who sang off-key because they didn’t rehearse,” said comedian MaForty. 

Baya said they were going to prioritise getting the basics right this year. 

“When someone mentioned the idea of standards, this exposed us as we don’t have it in black and white. We want to embed these standards in contracts so that the audience enjoys quality entertainment. We want to just get the basics right this year,” said Baya. 

He said the discussion also opened their eyes to be specific on the audience they are targeting for the festival.

“There were suggestions that we should really look at being all inclusive with every facet of society in Bulawayo. We want to be as representative as possible to the cosmopolitan nature of the city. 

“Also, we are now focused on what is the target audience and breaking down messages and directing them to different target groups,” said Baya.

 Programming that targets children, he said, was also important and they are considering having more of that during the festival.

 At the end, Baya said he appreciated the engagement adding that it would not be a once off thing. 

“The suggestions and discussions showed us that stakeholders also want to be part and parcel of the festival as they want to see it grow and be successful. 

“In the long run, we really need that constant engagement because if we really believe we’re about the community, the meetings become a barometer to measure how we are doing.”