STORY: Rwanda's arts festival highlights vibrancy of African culture
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 21, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 25, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:41
LOCATION: Kigali
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the arts festival
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JAMES KENNEDY MAZIMPAKA, Rwandan actor and writer
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JULES CEZAR NIYONKURU, Organizer of the event

STORYLINE:

A new arts festival launched by Rwanda is providing a platform for African artists and curators to explore new narratives and build relationships while highlighting the vibrancy of the African cultural scene.
   
Organized by the Rwanda Arts Initiative (RAI) art center, the City of Kigali, and the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and Arts, the Kigali Triennial is a pan-African event that weaves together literature, theater, dance, music, cinema, fashion, digital arts, gastronomy, and design.
   
The festival, themed "Where art, knowledge and business converge," runs from Feb. 16 to 25 in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. With more than 200 artists from 25 countries performing in 60 shows, the festival is a celebration of African excellence that also seeks to showcase Kigali as an emerging cultural capital.
   
"A festival like this provides a platform for the young generation to find the sweetness and beauty of African culture in what is performed, including cultural dances," James Kennedy Mazimpaka, a Rwandan actor and writer, told Xinhua in an interview.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JAMES KENNEDY MAZIMPAKA, Rwandan actor and writer
"There are so many people I'm going to meet, so many people I'm going to interact with, who have come from different countries. But at least I know there's something that they'll get from me. And I know there's something that I will also get from them. So it's just going to be a two-way thing which I'm so happy about. Let's build our lives around the act. Let's make our lives easy and simple just by pursuing art. Because art is our life and our life is art."
   
The festival, the first of its kind, was initiated to educate not only the public but also professional artists, said Jules Cezar Niyonkuru, one of the organizers.
   
SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JULES CEZAR NIYONKURU, Organizer of the event
"It is a market of arts that is supposed to happen once every 3 years to unite all of Africa and in all disciplines. We have markets of music or maybe theater in some countries of Africa, but it's the first one in the whole continent that focuses on all the disciplines that are available. So it is very important because now artists know that we have a rendezvous once every 3 years here in Rwanda. And people will be creating to make sure they put this in the pipeline so that artists from all over the world who come from Europe, from Asia, from all over the world can come and see their art and buy their art."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kigali.
(XHTV)