The Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) is one of Africa's largest international
arts festivals. Established in 1999 by Manuel Bagorro the festival takes place each year in late April or early May in
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
, the capital of
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
. The week-long festival encompasses five principal disciplines: theatre, music, dance, fine art, and poetry.
Operating in a difficult environment
Organizing and facilitating a festival the size of HIFA in the difficult sociopolitical and
economic conditions that characterize Zimbabwe today is no easy task. 2008 was a particularly difficult year for the Festival, with controversial elections
and
hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
, which ultimately led to the collapse of the
Zimbabwean Dollar, providing an unsettling backdrop.
Funding
As a private endeavour, HIFA depends on funding from private sources, including local businesses and
multinational corporation
A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
s. Further supplementary funding comes from donors, and embassy missions represented in Harare. Funding from embassies and missions is largely used to facilitate artists from their respective countries.
Other revenue sources include fees collected from ticket sales from the different shows run during HIFA week.
References
External links
*
BBC Radio Interview with Manuel BagorroBBC Blog on the 2008 Festival2008 Guardian Article
Arts festivals in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean art
Harare
Festivals in Zimbabwe
Tourist attractions in Harare
1999 establishments in Zimbabwe
Festivals established in 1999
Annual events in Zimbabwe
Spring (season) events in Zimbabwe
Art festivals in Africa
{{Zimbabwe-stub