No Easter Theatre Festival again
After failing to hold the Easter Theatre Festival last year due to Covid, organisers Solomonic Peacocks have announced that the festival will also not take place this year.
Solomonic Peacocks Director McArthur Matukuta said over the weekend that they had hoped that the situation would normalise by now but things are still not good.
“We were hoping to make a comeback having failed to hold the festival last year. But this is February and the situation is still not good and that means we cannot go ahead with the festival unless otherwise,” Matukuta said.
He said, for them to hold a top notch festival, they are supposed to have good preparations as well as invite acts both local and international.
“We just have to wait for now because we have increased cases of Covid. But for now I can say that we are not having the festival this year again, “Matukuta said.
Since its inception, the festival has featured a number of local and international acts including Zambian popular comedians Bikiloni and Difikoti.
Matukuta has since said they will continue to monitor the situation on the ground as well as embark on other projects.
“Due to the pandemic, we closed our offices last year and we have been working from home. This is a tough situation we are in and that also makes it difficult for us to prepare for the festival.
“We just want to promise theatre lovers that we have projects coming up,” he said.
He revealed that they have projects with partners in Wales and Germany.
Recently Jacaranda Cultural Centre Director Luc Deschamps indicated that they have lined up a number of activities including Easter Theatre Festival but said they were waiting for the situation to normalise.
Solomonic Peacocks is currently driving a Covid Response for Artists project which has seen them distributing relief packages to artists.
On Thursday, the group, which has earned praise from National Theatre Association of Malawi, distributed foodstuffs such as maize flour, rice, beans, sugar and salt to some artists in different disciplines in Blantyre.
Solomonic Peacocks received funding of $5,000 from Segal Family Foundation through a partner in United States of America for the project, which is targeting 100 artists.
