Organisers of Blantyre Arts Festival (Baf) said yesterday they are almost 100 percent ready for this year’s 13th edition to be held at Kamuzu Upper Stadium.
The one-day festival will this year be held on October 6.
Baf founder Thom Chibambo said they are 99 percent done with the arrangements.
“We have Black Missionaries as our main headliners this year, we also have a band from Germany which is already in the country,” Chibambo said.
The festival has in the past years hosted top artists including veteran South African artist Rebecca Malope and Jamaican dub poet Mutabaruka, who came through Poetry Africa.
“We are excited and our main sponsors Unesco have given us so much support. We have started our crowdfunding campaign and the response has been good so far,” he said.
Chibambo zeroed in on this year’s theme for the festival saying it is unique and that it is capturing people’s need to conserve nature as the world including Malawi is still grappling with disasters due to climate change.
“As a festival we want to play a role in sensitising people about climate change as well as environmental conversation. We have destroyed our environment as human beings due to among others, cutting down trees for charcoal,” he said.
Chibambo said Baf is an eco-festival that seeks to combat the situation by providing a bigger platform for advocacy and policy implementation awareness to make Malawi a better place to live now and the future.
He said people should watch the space for more announcements ahead of the festival.
“We are there as a festival not only to provide entertainment but to bring about change. We call upon the corporate world and well-wishers to partner us to achieve this. As a festival, we want to promote and preserve culture and promote tourism,” Chibambo said.
