Protest Arts International Festival
By Own Correspondents – Savanna Trust in collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe Theatre Arts Department is calling for papers and presentations for the second Protest Arts International Festival to be held 22nd and 23rd October 2010 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The purpose of the Protest Arts International Festival is to highlight and reflect on the contribution of protest arts to democratic processes in society. The 2010 theme is Protest Arts, Culture and Democracy: Imagining and Inventing the Future. It considers that the culture and protest arts are not just mere reflectors/mirrors of the society, rather protest culture and the arts must play initiatory and active roles in raising issues and practices that can enhance democratic processes. The overall goal of the festival is to facilitate the development of critical arts, spectatorship and citizenry that participates in building of democratic and just societies.
This calls for papers, performances and workshops that: challenge general citizenry, artists, researchers in politics, religion, theatre, music/dance, literature, media, law, development, visual arts and related disciplines to envision democratic spaces for the socio-political development of the nation through protest art.
Protests Arts International festival consists of a two day symposium, performances, workshops and exhibitions. The symposium is mainly targeted at protest cultural art and theatre practitioners, media personnel, academics civic society and legal experts on democracy. PAIF is poised to be an integral platform for sharing, exchange and critiquing strategies and challenges for envisioning a democratic society in general and the arts in particular. Protest art performances and exhibitions are set to be presented to the public in different venues around the city.
Interested parties should submit their abstracts for papers, synopsis for performances and introductory papers on their workshops by end of business 18th September 2010. Presentations from the symposium will be published into a journal.
Savanna Trust is a non-profit, theatre-for-development organisation formed in 2006 whose vision is to see a just society in which all citizens actively and freely participate in its development. Harnessing the power of community theatre, Savanna Trust’s mission is the building of a Zimbabwean citizenry committed to the democratic development of their communities. We are proud to partner with the UZ Theatre Department in this initiative as our partnership continue to strengthen every year.
