The road to the National Schools Arts Festival (Nafest) International Youth Cultural Festival, which is set for Lilongwe next month, started with a Southern Region competition on Sunday.
Held at Nguludi Secondary School in Chiradzulu District, the Southern Region contest attracted six schools, with four schools emerging winners.
The four schools that emerged winners are Double Vision Private Secondary School, Ngumbe Secondary School, Eastern Side Academy and Nguludi Secondary School.
Organised by Light of Youth Creative Organisation (Lyco) in collaboration with the Department of Arts, National Library Service, Malawi National Commission for Unesco and Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) through Copyright Fund, the festival seeks to celebrate cultural diversity and offer young people a platform to showcase their talent.
Lyco Executive Director James Kitchen said the four schools would join other schools from the Northern and Central regions to participate in the Nasfest International Youth Cultural Festival set for Madsoc Theatre in Lilongwe from February 7 to 9 2025.
“The national festival will feature groups and artists from Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Over 30 acts are expected to participate in the national festival, which will feature drama, poetry, music and film,” Kitchen said.
He said they were thrilled with the success of the Southern Region contest, with the Central Region competition expected to be held in Lilongwe this coming Saturday.
Actor and playwright Fumbani Phiri, who was one of the judges during the Southern Region competition, said schools had good productions.
He was quick to say that many failed to articulate its theme of ‘Preserving Cultural Identity through Folktales and Folkdance’.
“We noted some brilliant performances from the students which indicated that, if given enough time, most of them can deliver the best,” Phiri said.
He also observed that storytelling was the major problem, citing, among other things, plot.
“There was lack of originality and it seems that most schools did not have enough time to work on the productions,” Phiri said.
