Bulawayo Day declared
THE Bulawayo City Council has declared 1 June, Bulawayo Day, a day which will be set aside to commemorate the declaration of the city as a town in 1894 and will be marked by arts and cultural activities.
The development comes at a time that the city this year celebrated 125 years of being declared a town, with a number of activities taking place around the city, which culminated in the main celebrations that were held on 1 June.
Bulawayo was declared a town by Dr Leander Starr Jameson on 1 June 1894 and subsequently attained city status in 1943. The city also had its first advisory board in 1894. According to the latest council report, the declaration of 1 June as Bulawayo Day was mainly influenced by a local arts and culture organisation, Nhimbe Trust that also signed a memorandum of understanding with the local authority in 2015 for the establishment of a Bulawayo cultural policy. Further, the local authority has declared that an arts festival week will be held annually from 2 to 5 June as part of the celebrations, where Nhimbe Trust will play the lead in organising the festival.
“It will be recalled that Nhimbe Trust signed an MoU with council in 2015 for the proposed cultural policy and the establishment of Bulawayo cultural policy which was to provide technical expertise to council in the formulation and implementation of a cultural policy and strategic plan. It is therefore recommended that council declares 1 June as Bulawayo Day. This is the anniversary day for the city being declared a town and that council declares 2 June to 5 June annually as an arts festival week,” reads part of the council report.
Further, the local authority will provide its halls, City Hall car park including the Large City Hall for free during the Arts festival week with a budget of US$200 630 being proposed for the initial celebrations next year.
Nhimbe Trust, led by executive director Mr Josh Nyapimbi, will be responsible for fundraising for the festivities. According to a breakdown of the budget as presented by Nhimbe Trust, the festival will also include two regional groups and will also see the refurbishment of BCC venues to host Bulawayo Day and the festival events.
“The celebration of Bulawayo Day and the hosting of the Bulawayo Arts Festival aims to enable citizens to participate meaningfully in the cultural life of the city in order to create strong, resilient and inclusive communities, to foster social cohesion and enhance social justice, and to generate innovative processes for solutions to socially challenging situations.
“The project also aims to enhance the resources, strategies, methodologies and processes available for creation in response to the challenges of the urban context and their complex development through the establishment of creative spaces to foster the creative spirit and for the exhibition of cultural products,” reads the report.
This year’s celebrations were held under the theme #Reimagine Bulawayo with a number of events being held around the city inclusive of a carnival from the Inxwala Site and Railway Station passing through historic sites in the city.
The celebrations also saw the holding of a business breakfast, cultural exhibition, business dinner, golf tournament, day of prayer and thanksgiving, cultural food expo, public lectures, schools competitions on quiz, poetry, traditional dances and drama, motor racing, Bulawayo at 125 clean-up campaign, mini-fashion show, gospel music events and a Bulawayo sports day.