Intwasa and ZITF Clash. Can Local Arts Fiesta Possibly Marry the Business Exhibition?

The simultaneous occurrence of the arts festival and trade fair might appear as a double attraction or a clash. Image by Newsday

BY THABANI H. MOYO | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | SEPT 20, 2021

In late September, Bulawayo has the rare privilege of playing host to two major events, Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo and the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).

BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) — Intwasa, an arts festival, the largest of its kind in Bulawayo, will run under the theme Re- ignite.

The festival, a multi-disciplinary showcase, is an annual platform that celebrates the diversity of human cultures and creation in disciplines like music, spoken word, film, theatre, dance, literary arts, fashion and crafts.

The event features exhibitions, performances, book launches, competitions, workshops and discussions.

On the other hand, ZITF is tailor-made to be purely an industry and commerce event to showcase Zimbabwean products to the world and attract foreign direct investment.

At face value, the simultaneous occurrence of the festival and the trade fair might appear as a double attraction or a clash.

Ordinarily, this might mean that the two events will fight for attention and visitors. However, to perceive the two events as clashing will be unfortunate.

The two events are supposed to complement each other as they aim to boost the economic activity of the city of Bulawayo and that of Zimbabwe. The two exhibitions are expected to attract spending visitors or tourists in the host community of Bulawayo. This will create sales, income, jobs, tax revenues, and related economic activity.

The two exhibition events will initiate activity in the tourism industry and stimulate other export-related income sectors and other business activities.

It is our view that the exhibition can have successive and magnified influences on Bulawayo local economy.

The initial injection of the exhibition spending provides direct revenues for organisers, contractors, venue operators, freight forwarders, hotels, food & beverage, retailers, transport, sightseeing and creations, telecommunications and other local services.  

Recipients of direct expenditures spend part of the money to purchase necessary inputs such as labour and materials.

One may notice the subtle revolving effect of these changes resulting from the Intwasa and ZITF exhibition activities between all economic sectors.

ZITF and Intwasa Arts Festival will boost Bulawayo's local economy. Image by ZITF

The two events will have multiplier effects on the economic activities of the city of Bulawayo and Zimbabwe.

After negotiating and clinching lucrative deals at ZITF, we hope that exhibitors will have an opportunity to wind off their day by attending some of the live events lined up by the Intwasa Arts Festival.

Zimbabwe International Trade fair will bring a lot of business executives who are decision-makers within their organisations. This will allow the Intwasa team to attract them to their events and show them what the festival is made of.

This will present the team with the possibility of forging future partnerships as they will have a better understanding of the festival’s vision and activities.

We believe this is a great opportunity for ZITF and Intwasa Arts Festival to unlock future partnerships that can bring forth win-win situations for both parties.

Trade Fair normally brings hype to the city of Bulawayo, it creates a different atmosphere, some excitement, and it is hoped that Intwasa will be able to tap into that hype and attract audiences to its live shows.

In turn, we implore Intwasa organisers to provide an atmosphere that will be entertaining and relaxing to attract business executives attending the Trade fair.

The festival, in our view, must be fashioned as a masterclass and polished pitch to corporates as we feel there lie future sponsors.

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The two events simultaneously present an opportunity to experiment with how arts festivals can marry business exhibitions and benefit from each other.

Those visiting Bulawayo will take time to explore both the arts and cultural festival and the trade fair.

In summary, the simultaneous happening of Intwasa and ZITF must be seen as a blessing to the city of Bulawayo that calls for celebrations.

The two events will have multiplier effects on the socio-economic activity of the city of Bulawayo.

The challenge for the two events will be COVID-19.

Audiences to both events will be limited by restrictions that are in place to fight the pandemic.

This has resulted in the year’s Festival being a hybrid that mixes live performances and live streaming. Nevertheless, the two events present a rare occurrence to the community of Bulawayo.

That opportunity must be fully exploited.