This year’s Maun International Arts Festival (MIAF9) takes place from 23rd to 30th November 2 2019. As in the past, the festival brings to the country yet another assortment of refined artistic expressions from local, national and international participants. A comprehensive festival which has been in existence for the past 8 years now, MIAF9 celebrates the arts through performances and displays, and also fosters for artist development through a series of workshops and symposiums.
As a festival that is mandated to not only promote but to also nurture the arts, the selection of participants includes both established artists and serious up-and-comings.
The MIAF9 will feature various activities taking place in the town of Maun. The weeklong festivity will display events spanning across performance, literary, music and the visual arts. One of the main objectives of the MIAF is to promote arts and culture, particularly the arts and culture in Botswana and Africa..
Activities of the MIAF include spontaneous creativity where visual artists meet literary artists in a creative exercise. There is also the Open Street Jam Session, the jazz and poetry night, a night of comedy, poetry and music workshops, and many more.
The festival feature artists from all around the country of Botswana and international acts from Zimbabwe, United States of America, South Africa, Namibia and Zambia.
As much as the festival fosters arts creativity and instils a sense of cultural pride, it also seeks to brand the country of Botswana as a first-rate tourism destination area. The Northwest region is an immensely rich area in both culture and wild nature. However, there hasn’t been much effort targeted to underpinning the dense cultural wealth of this region. With a diversity of unique ethnics co-existing in the northwest region, this area is composed of multicultural, polyglot societies stitched in a vibrant quilt that displays a serene and peaceful social milieu.
It is a fact that the Northwest region is home to the mighty Okavango delta which has recently been listed as a world heritage site. As an organisation living in this area, we are proud to be a part of this region. With weeklong activities taking place in various platforms around the town, the Maun International Arts Festival seeks to give tourists an opportunity to interact with local cultures, and get to appreciate that apart from the lush greens of the wild, there is a pulsing cultural food – the heartbeat of the people of Botswana.
The organisers seek to make the Maun International Arts Festival (MIAF) an identity of the Northwest (Ngamiland/Okavango) region; just like signature events such as Khawa Dune Challenge in Kgalagadi and Domboshaba Festival in Northeast. With support from all relevant structures, the MIAF is already becoming the signature event of the Northwest region.
The MIAF has both free and paid shows. This year features artists like Page (South Africa), Shola Adisa-Farrar (USA), Poet ASA (Zimbabwe), Snowflake (Namibia), King Flat (South Africa), Van Van (Zambia), Stream Jazz (Botswana), Angie Chuma (Botswana), Yellowbone (Botswana), and many others. For a complete list of artists and events of the MIAF, refer to the Poetavango Facebook page. Tickets for the festival are available at the Nhabe Museum.
Sponsors and partners are, amongst others, the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Embassy of the United States of America, Aquarite, Artron, Okavango Artists Association and the Nhabe Museum.