Women’s Arts Festival on Sunday

By Melody Gwenyambira

Young Voices Network through its Sistaz in Solidarity project, this Saturday host the first ever Women’s Arts Festival in Zimbabwe as a prelude to the 16 days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence.

The inaugural festival will run under the theme “Challenging the visible, discovering the invisible” and will be held at the Alliance Française.

“The festival seeks to reveal challenges that are faced by women that can be overcome if communities act against these atrocities. Female artists from all genres will converge on Saturday engage in creative lobbying and creative dialogue on violence against women in 10 different acts all interwoven to drive home the 16 steps policy agenda advanced by the UN Women.” said the Festival Coordinator Lyneth Mtemeri.

The initiative is based on a belief in cultural and creative expression as a means to affect deep and lasting social change.  Through art, the Festival is seeking to challenge many of society's deepest assumptions, built upon the power of artistic creation and expression to spark new ideas, catalyze critical thinking, elicit new actions, inspire individuals and create visions.

 “Highlights at the festival will include acts by renowned artists Selmour Mtukudzi, Edith WeUtonga, Cindy and Pauline, Diana Samkange and many more. Umoja will perform the main act that looks at the different faces of violence against women.”

“The festival signifies a continuation of efforts towards enhancing and empowering women and am proud to be part of the first edition” said Edith Weutonga

For an hour, the festival will be moved to Coppa Cabana Terminus for the unveiling of a mural painted on the public Toilet encouraging an end to harassment of women in public spaces, in the home and in workplaces. WAFEST decided on Coppa Cabana due to the high instances of sexual harassment of women that go on there on a daily basis.

“The initiative is inspired by the belief that violence against women is a coward hiding its face in the makeup of silence and only when we begin to challenge these visible structures of violence do we truly discover the true and female parliamentarians are expected to attend. In highlighting the plight of women through the arts, the festival aims to make the campaign against gender based violence a 365 days a year campaign. YVN hopes to make this festival an annual event,” Lyneth added.