Festival celebrates Windhoek's diversity
With the /Ae //Gams Art and Culture Festival, the municipality of Windhoek hopes not only to create unity among various cultural groups but to encourage residents to display their respective cultures with pride."The Windhoek municipal council established the /Ae //Gams Art and Culture Festival to emphasise the importance of the arts, to encourage residents to be proud of their identity, to strengthen economic development linked to local products, to promote tourism and to enable access to culture for all," municipal spokesperson Lydia Amutenya said about the festival taking place on 26 and 27 April.
Eighty-five exhibitors, including various artists and vendors of traditional food and drinks, will celebrate different cultural groups, such as the Tswana, Damara, Herero, Damara and Afrikaner. According to Amutenya, several diplomatic missions will also participate in the festival.
“The council would like to see the festival impact more lives with a year-round programme,” said Amutenya.
She says the festival has made a difference in the lives of residents, artists and small businesses. "The festival also boosted the careers of well-known local artists as well as small and medium enterprises and service providers," Amutenya said. – [email protected]