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Mbulelo Mpofu, Showbiz Reporter
THE National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) in Bulawayo is celebrating the inaugural National Culture Month with a series of cultural events lined up at their premises intended to honour and encourage unification of the diverse cultures found in Zimbabwe.

The NGZ will also acknowledge the culture of the modern age to involve the youth who are the future of Zimbabwe.

NGZ regional director Silenkosi Moyo said the gallery is channelling its efforts toward the youth to reconnect them to cultural celebrations.

“In keeping with this year’s theme, ‘Celebrating cultural diversity: Leaving no one and no place behind’ the gallery decided to focus on the youth, who according to our surveys, have felt a disconnect from cultural celebrations because they feel like they mostly focus on traditional culture without acknowledging the culture they grew up with and currently exist in.

“With this in mind, the gallery has included a variety of modern cultures into their celebrations of the past including social media culture, hip-hop culture, modern fashion culture, film culture, concert culture, street art culture and more,” said Moyo.

She said the NGZ will collaborate with the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) to ensure that the National Culture Month is a success.

This coming Monday, an interactive platform, “Bulawayo Conversations” will be held at the gallery’s Anglo-American Gallery in an event that will be live-streamed online under the hashtag #BulawayoConversations to cater to a broader scope.

Another iconic youth-oriented event will be an extended edition of the gallery’s popular monthly art and music promotion platform, Friday Late which will be running completely free from 2PM to 8pm next Friday.

The event is usually held late and this time around, it will bring together a diverse line-up of popular local music acts from hip-hop artistes, DJs, film stars, traditional dance groups, and the interactive drumming experience of a lifetime with the amazing “Drums of Peace”.

Moyo said National Culture Month will also incorporate traditional dishes and games.

“Complementary to that, there will also be a free guided tour of the ‘Ndebele Probers’ art exhibition which will be mounted inside the gallery. The usual food and drink stalls will be open with additional traditional food and drink stalls being availed along with other traditional and contemporary game experiences for an immersive cultural experience and exchange.

“A wide variety of multicultural arts, crafts, music, literature, and fashion stalls will be open as well with a contemporary music-infused atmosphere in the background as local DJs serenade the crowd with playlists of outstanding local music which will expose the public to a whole new world of art they never knew existed in their own backyard,” she said.

In liaison with the National Culture Month objectives, the NGZ seeks to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and views between artistes and other cultural workers within the sub-region, African continent and the world; to encourage young people to celebrate World Culture and Africa Days and to allow members of the public to appreciate the employment-generation capacity of the creative cultural industries. – @eMKlass_49.