16 Mar 2016

The director of Maitisong Festival, Gao Lemmenyane says this year’s  festival will be much bigger and more exciting than last year.

Speaking during a press briefing to mark the official launch of the festival in Gaborone yesterday,  Lemmenyane said the festival is expected to kick-start on 11 April with a number of workshops lined up. He said from the 12^th there will be an official opening which will pave the way and build momentum for the great shows which will be happening at different times at a number of venues up to 16 April 2016.

“The programme is in such a way that people can experience the festival and its entirety. You will have an opportunity to watch the show at The Moving Space, Maitisong and Thapong all in one night. If for whatever reason the shows happens at the same time in one day, the show shall repeat,” he said.

Lemmenyane also talked on the importance of prioritising shows which are scheduled once as they could not be seen on a different date.

He urged artists to be proactive in making sure that their shows are marketed, adding that they have been accorded a chance to promote themselves at the Diaco Gaborone Marathon which will be held on April, adding that the race had a catchment of about 7 000 people all gathered in one area.

“Individual shows usually expect the festival organisers to market their own event, which is impossible. The onus is on the artist to promote their show as this can improve their returns,” he said.

Lemmenyane said the festival has planned a meet and greet session, which will create opportunities and a plaform for networking and collaboration of artists as some will be from South Africa, Namibia and the United States.

On the other hand, the head of communication for Maru-a-pula and Maitison Festival, Alastair Hagger said the theme for the 2016 Maitisong was dubbed: Engage.

He said the icons in their logo is a reimagination of the share icon for the social media.

“Engage in terms of communications, marketing, artists networking, engagement between the organisation and the audience, artist and the organisation. Please engage. We will be very active on twitter and instagram,” he said.

On her part,  a representative from the USA Embassy, Elena Andreotti said the USA was content with their continued assistance in supporting the Maitisong Festival.

“This year we are providing a grant of P80 000 to support the spoken word events. The grant is intended for facilitation of workshops, students, teachers and aspiring writers,” she noted.

Andreotti said they were bringing in Miles Hodges, who hails from New York, to perform and lead the workshops.

  Miles has shared his work with audiences everywhere from the Apollo Theater and Nuyorican Poets Cafe to the Kennedy Centre and Smithsonian Museum.

His spoken word performances have been featured on HBO documentary films, featured in the series Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices and highlighted by prominent online media websites such as YouTube.com as well as in academic curriculumns at high-schools and universities around the United States. Ends