By Mary Doma
Zimbabwe. – The Special Schools Arts Festival third edition – a fast- growing event for Zimbabwe`s highly talented children , will be held on June 14 at the Band Shell Stage in Harare Gardens, will see an exciting program lineup which will include Artists from an international community.
In an interview with News Of The South, the coordinator Mr. Tichaona Muzavazi says the forthcoming festival will be family fun day in the park with the country’s most talented children.
“Performing artistes with disabilities from Bulawayo, Kadoma, Masvingo, Mrewa and Harare special schools and disability resource units will display skills and abilities in music, poetry, traditional dance, drawing, crafts, batik, tie and dye, pottery, modeling and other art forms on the day” he said.
Highlights of this year’s event include participation of the special schools and resource units for the blind, in the previous editions they had Copota, Mrewa, Jairos Jiri Kadoma and Southerton, ZimCARE schools from Harare, Bulawayo and Kadoma, Emerald Hill, Danhiko, Leornard Cheshire and Munashe Special School.
“Muzavazi said that there will also be a group of artistes from a Japanese community who will work with the children at the venue in arts and craft activities which include tie and dye, stencil printing, origami, Japanese traditional calligraphy, face painting and playground exercises which include Kendama, Kite, Take-tombo and Yoyo amongst others.”
The Festival will be operating on the theme ‘breaking barriers towards inclusive practices’ which was motivated by the depth of talent that children with disabilities have demonstrated over the years.
“The festival is a podium for addressing stigma and discrimination against the disabled in the society. The initiative is to encourage school children with disabilities to discover the avenues of art, help them realize what their inner selves hold and to develop their skills,” he said.
In order to promote social inclusion and peer interaction of school children with disabilities and their counterparts in the mainstream school system, children from three schools in Highfield in Harare will perform traditional dance and mbira music at this year’s festival.
The arts showcase, is being supported by the Partnership for Arts and Culture Development, a program of the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust which is co-funded by the European Union and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
The festival has been working in collaboration with schools with children with disabilities and partners in organizations with children, disability and art thrust in their operations.
The first Special Schools Arts Festival was held on June 8 2012 and the second on June 22 2013 at the Band Shell Stage, Harare.
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