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Zambia can be a centre of the arts - Charlotte

Zambia can be a centre of the arts - Charlotte
By Wana Kalala
Sun 14 Oct. 2012, 15:10 CAT

ZAMBIA can become a cultural hub and centre of the arts, says Charlotte Scott. Speaking at the Amaka Arts Festival gala at the Government Complex in Lusaka on Friday, Charlotte, who is the festival's patron, said the multi-disciplinary event was historic and needed to be supported.

"This is a first. During the course of this week we have seen some amazing things, amazing kind of interaction between our various trainers - national as well as international - our upcoming artistes, our experienced artistes…a great diversity of things and I think this is something we need to build on," she said.

Charlotte said the arts festival, which began last week, had been successful despite running on a shoestring budget, and urged sponsors to continue with the vision and be advocates for future festivals.

"It's extremely important that the core group of people that have been extremely supportive of Amaka and have the vision for arts in Zambia can continue to work together and some of the challenges that the team has faced will be overcome by a momentum that we can build on from this," she said.

The Amaka Arts Festival incorporated fashion, literary works, visual arts, film, dance and music, with a day being allotted to each discipline. Friday's gala was dedicated to dance, with over 12 local and international groups performing before sponsors and invited guests.
The festival ended yesterday with a music concert at the Barclays Sports Complex in Lusaka.

Festival director Chilufya Chilangwa said the event would become a permanent feature on Zambia's arts calendar.

"Amaka is not going anywhere; we are here to stay. It is an annual event and it will continue being an annual event. Our long-term vision is to build a school of the arts and we're not going to stop till we lay the first brick of that school," said Chilangwa.

Labels: CHARLOTTE SCOTT

posted by MrK @ 5:11 PM