One of Africa’s largest international festival HIFA, the (Harare International Festival of the Arts) 2020 is hanging in the balance but still hopeful.

Plot Mhako, Earground

The six-day mega eclectic arts festival which began in 1999 did not take place last year due to the social and economic challenges taking place in the country. However, the organizers had announced that the 2020 edition will run from 28 April to 3 May.

Traditionally the festival would make a call in September or October for performers but this did not happen till now raising questions on whether the festival would stage or not.

Earground managed to get a comment from HIFA founder Manuel Bagorro who had this to say, ” We are hoping (Hifa Happens this year)! The team in Harare is working hard to find the funding but of course, there are many challenges.”

“HIFA will be back when it is possible to present the event with the same scale, diversity of artistic expression and prestige as previous years – we all hope very sincerely that it will be this year, but if not, we will keep trying. Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement – we appreciate all the creative thinkers who care about HIFA and care about the role of the arts in Zimbabwe.”

HIFA is a very important creative and cultural event for Zimbabwe and the country desperately needs such initiatives more now. The fiesta paints a new vibrant picture of the capital city, brings in droves of tourists, international, local artists and creates thousands of jobs. Its struggles for the past few years are a reflection of the economic crisis bedeviling the country.