Wilhelmina Imene
Since the pandemic set in about two years ago, almost all social events that were hosted annually have been put on hold, for obvious reasons, of course. The same happened to the Windhoek Annual Cultural Festival (WACF), which was founded in 2018 and hosted for the first time in June 2019.
Two years later, WACF director and founder Sylvester ‘Silva’ Shapwa and team are back with a banger of a festival, and ready to deliver an exciting event that will leave people yearning for more.
This year’s theme is ‘Where Art Begins’, and is set to run from 30 March until 3 April at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek.
Silva told VIBEZ! they are planning for this year’s festivities to be bigger and better, compared to the first event.
“A lot was missing, but we are planning to rectify it this year. We have a lot more in store for the attendees, and we hope to make this event the people’s choice event for years to come,” he said.
The five-day event will kick off with a ‘Namibians battle it out’ show, which will have dancers, magicians, comics and many more showcase their talents. There will be a fireworks display, a music night with local up-and-coming and established musicians, cultural groups and cooking competitions of indigenous foods, an eating competition, and what better way to end an event than a Miss and Mr Windhoek Annual Cultural Festival beauty contest.
This will surely be one event for the books, and no one should miss out.
Silva said he started the festival after he observed that most social events he attended lacked cultural exhibitions.
With this, he found the need to fill the void, and established a cultural event which will showcase culture through various activities, such as cultural dances and art and creative-centred events around the different cultures in Namibia.
Silva strongly believes that these activities will promote the integration of cultural education in society, educate locals to preserve and respect their cultures, and promote economic development. Among others, the festival aims to promote and celebrate the country’s rich and diverse cultures through social empowerment, and cultural diversity and creativity. As part of the global cultural diversity, the organisers of the event have seized an opportunity to bring about cultural engagements with the aim to promote global acceptance and embrace the world’s diverse and unique cultures.
Besides promoting cultures, the event strives to create and bring a platform closer to the people with the objective to bring young and upcoming entrepreneurs and SMEs together to showcase and sell their products and services, while at the same time assisting their sponsors and corporate partners to build their brands and empower the youth.
Also on offer this year are SME stalls, including food and beverage stalls, cultural and craft exhibition stalls, marketing stalls and a kiddies’ corner.
In 2019, the event recorded a whopping 12 536 gate entries. But keeping Covid-19 protocols in mind, Silva urged Namibians to come out in numbers and see what is in store for them.
The gates will open to the public at 10h00, and will close at 00h00 every day of the event.
The public is urged to keep an eye on the Windhoek Annual Cultural Festival social media pages and website for more information.