The sixth edition of the annual Easter Theatre Festival (ETF) will be held between April 25 to 27 next year, organisers Solomonic Peacocks Theatre has announced.
Speaking during a press briefing yesterday at the recently renamed Alliance Française formerly Jacaranda Cultural Centre, festival director McArthur Matukuta said they realised the need to align the festival with development outreach programmes.
“The festival aims to serve wide audiences, including emerging and established artists to showcase their talents, gain exposure and engage broader communities to attract global viewers and offer free community performances,” he said.
Matukuta said as part of next year’s ETF, they will conduct directing and script writing workshops for artists and have community interaction performances.
The theme for festival is celebrate culture through theatre and will be held under the project Enhancing sustainable theatre development with support from Copyright Fund through the Copyright Society of Malawi and other partners.
He said the festival dates also marks the launch of the Global Theatre Market Connection project which has been supported by the Copyright Fund and Cosoma to the tune of K10 million.
The festival director said as a way of maximising the reach and impact of the event, they have collaborated with entertainment centred online platform Mikozi Network and Poetry by Braille.
He said the festival will attract 30 performers from Malawi and abroad.
Some of the names to star at the event include Kedibone Mulaudzi from South Africa, Uncle Limbe and Dangerous Jubeki from Zambia, Mr Jokes, Che Mandota and Ching’aning’ani from Malawi. There will also be performers from France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Alliance Française director Luc Deschamps said they look at the festival as a platform to promote the participation of youth and women in arts. He said they believe in the arts and power of theatre.
“We have had a long relationship with ETF. We are happy to see it grow and we are sure it is a feeling shared by the organisers. A festival brings a lot of artists together, it is like a crossroads and we expect artists from all over to participate,” said Deschamps.
