THE East African Community arts and cultural festival (JAMAFEST) 2022 commenced on Monday and will climax on September 12th at Bujumbura in Burundi.
The eight-day festival has drawn participants from all East African Community member states from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan to pay homage to their cultural heritage on one ground.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of the Productive and Social Sectors, Christophe Bazivamo hailed the festival saying it promotes regional, social-cultural integration through arts and culture by showcasing the culture.
He also said that the festival’s main objective is to harness cultural resources to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 in the EAC.
“We are doing this to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 and promote regional social-cultural integration through arts and culture as the prime driver of EAC integration,” he said.
He said the subsidiary halls of the Palais de arts and the Faracias Institute will be present at the exhibition in Burundi as it specialises in various film screenings and festivals.
He believes Burundi will deliver a successful 2022 JAMAFEST and urged the Regional Steering Committee (RSC) to work closely with the national organising committee to ensure the event works successfully.
Adding, he said the festival will promote unity in diversity, sharing cross-cultural experiences and dialogues and cultural exchanges.
“I urge the Partner States to use the festival to promote economic growth and revival of the tourism industry in regional integration,” he said.
Bazivamo further disclosed that a theme song for the festival has been composed as part of the publicity campaign to create awareness of the role of arts and culture in regional integration.
Also, Tanzania was assigned to prepare a presentation on adopting new regional languages in the EAC.
And South Sudan was tasked with presenting the role of modern technologies in advancing cultural expression and arts – the impact of social media on culture. At the same time, Kenya will tackle indigenous knowledge and traditional medicine.
Rwanda was assigned arts, industry and tourism; Uganda will handle youth participation and employment, while Burundi will handle research, innovation and investment in arts and culture.
