Despite growing uncertainty on the prospects of Sand Music Festival taking place, organisers of the event have given assurance that the event will go ahead this year.
Impakt Events Management announced months ago that the annual event will take place from September 26 to 28, making a return after a year’s break following the death of the company’s founder ‘Soldier’ Lucius Banda.
But since the announcement, there has been nothing on the ground to show for, prompting festival-goers to raise questions whether the event will proceed as earlier announced.
|Courtesy of Laura Banda
However, a member of Impakt Events Management, Laura Banda said in an interview: “Our fans should bear with us. We have faced some hiccups of course, but we are on top of things. In the worst case scenario, we may just shift the dates to push it further.”
She said the delay in issuing a formal update is because most of the key stakeholders under Impakt
Management Events have been busy. She said the public will soon be notified on their official position.
Banda admitted that they are finding it hard to handle the festival the way her father used to.
“Him [Lucius Banda] being gone is a huge blow,” she said.
One of the regular attendees of the festival, Kondwani Mwale said the
uncertainty is bound to affect people’s planning in case of a last-minute confirmation.
He said: “That event means everything to us. Personally, I have just missed one event since it started. Every year I do budget that I will attend SandFest. They needed to come out and inform us whether the event is on or not so that we are guided properly.” However, organisers of the event have assured the festival-goers that the event will proceed as planned.
According to the Malawi National Cultural and Artistic Events Calendar, Sand Music Festival is supposed to take place between September 27 and 29. Plans to shift it may, therefore, create possible collision with other events which are allocated particular dates.
In a separate interview, seasoned event curator Shadreck Kalukusha said availability of resources are the main catalyst when it comes to organising events.
He said: “When we are talking about budgeting, we mean money that is available. Once funds are secured it is much easier to host an event.
“And secondary to that is people and experience management. The way people are managed matters a lot. That adds a lot of value to the event.”
