The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has denied earlier reports that it had allocated US$300,000 for this year’s Bulawayo Arts Festival (BAF), saying the actual cost of the event will be US$30,000.
This came after the local authority was criticised by residents for funding an arts festival at a time when it was struggling to provide water for ratepayers.
In a statement on Friday, BCC Corporate Communications Manager, Nesisa Mpofu, said the BAF budget caters for various activities. She said:
The Bulawayo Arts Festival is budgeted for in the City of Bulawayo 2024 Budget under the Festivals and Recreational Activities line item which caters for various activities which also include the Youth Festival, youth training programmes under recreational services, participation at exhibitions (for example participation and training of Drum majorettes for the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair among other aspects amounting to US$300,000 for all the programmes).
The Budget for the 2024 Bulawayo Day and Bulawayo Arts Festival is US$30,000 instead of US$300,000 alluded to in some media reports and this budget includes the cost of venues as Council’s contribution and cross charges across various Municipal Departments.
The City of Bulawayo commemorates Bulawayo Day on the 1st of June and Bulawayo Festival (BAF) week from the 2 to 5 June annually since 2020 following the resolution of Council on 02 October 2019.
1 June was declared Bulawayo Day because it is the anniversary day of the declaration of Bulawayo as a town.
The declaration of Bulawayo Day and Festival Week by the Council was followed by lobbying by stakeholders in the creative industries.
