Hivos Southern Africa put up an open lounge and stage at the Harare International Festival of the Arts 2017, Zimbabwe’s premier arts showpiece. Hivos’ concept was an open lounge and space featuring a range of artistic performances where audiences had an opportunity to have close interaction with artists.

The Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) is a week-long annual music and arts festival and workshop programme held in Harare usually around late April or early May.

A total of 25 artists put their talents on display at the Hivos Open Lounge and Space. They included Thabanie Dube, Emmanuel Motsi, Wilfred MaAfrika, Elizabeth Muchemwa, Chirikure Chirikure, and Madzitateguru, among others.

The Hivos Southern Africa exhibition concept was also a pop-up creative hub where we showcased our six thematic issues on Transparency and Accountability, Freedom of Expression, Women Empowerment, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Food and Sexual Rights and Diversity.

The Festival’s theme “Staging an Intervention” provided Hivos with an opportunity to showcase its rich engagement with the Zimbabwean artistic community and audiences. Hivos has played a major role in funding arts institutions and individuals in Zimbabwe.

In fact, Hivos has funded HIFA since its inception in 1999. To enhance co-creation and artistic collaboration, Hivos invited Thabani Dube aka Ras Thabanie to be the headline artist at the open lounge and stage.

The festival promotes local, regional and international arts and culture in a programme of theatre, dance, music, circus, street performance, fashion, spoken word and visual arts. HIFA is the largest arts festival in Zimbabwe and is among the largest in Africa.

For the six days of the arts fête, the Hivos Open Lounge and Space provided an open space for artists to freely express themselves. Hivos also hosted two key conversations on green and inclusive energy, as well as how to unlock the full potential of women in Zimbabwe.

HIFA provided Hivos Southern Africa with an opportunity to present a fun, engaging and compelling image to external audiences that visited the arts festival.

Since its inception in 1999, the Festival has received recognition for its support of arts and culture in Zimbabwe and is seen as a major contributor to development in this area. HIFA is now the largest cultural event in Zimbabwe, among the eight major festivals in Africa and a significant player on the international Arts and Culture circuit.