The Ubumuntu Arts Festival is giving new meaning to the age-old adage, "The tongue has power.”
Even after nearly a decade in the realm of arts, Hope Azeda, the visionary behind the Ubumuntu Arts Festival, continues to grapple with the tremendous evolution the festival has undergone. Reflecting on this journey, she said, "The impact of our spoken and affirmed words is truly formidable, shaping the reality we inhabit today. I am very mindful that the words I utter today may ultimately shape the reality I encounter in another nine years.”
Initially, it seemed unimaginable that the Ubumuntu Arts Festival, an annual gathering that unites renowned artists and emerging talents to utilize art as a platform for fostering societal transformation, would gain such recognition as to attract the attention of other nations. Over the course of the past nine years, the Ubumuntu Arts Festival underwent an unexpected metamorphosis—an evolution that Azeda, along with other key panelists, eloquently discussed yesterday within the brightly illuminated amphitheater space of the Kigali Genocide Memorial.
Onstage, Azeda was surrounded by a group of individuals who have played vital roles in the festival. Among them were Ruwanthie de Chickera, the Sri Lankan Artistic Director of Stages Theater Group, and Matt Deely, the British Set Designer, both of whom have actively contributed to the festival for nine years. Also present were Fola Folayan, the media spokesperson, Dieudonne Nagiriwubuntu, representing Aegis Trust, Carlos Renedo, the executive director of Ballet de Barcelona, and Chase Johnsey, the Artistic Director of Ballet De Barcelona. Seated alongside them was Anderson Carvalho, the Founder and Director of Anderson Carvalho Dance and Choreography from Brazil, who joined the festival during the challenging times of the pandemic.
First and foremost, the selection of the venue was not arbitrary. "This memorial holds profound significance as a site of reflecting on humanity’s tragic failures,” Nagiriwubuntu explained. "Organizing the art festival here serves as a means to commemorate life that emerges from the shadows. While artists in the past employed their talents to tear communities apart through depictions of hatred, violence, and destruction, the present generation embraces a new narrative centered on peace, love, and humanity.”
According to Nagiriwubuntu, the Kigali Genocide Memorial attracts approximately 130,000 visitors annually. Interestingly, some of these visitors specifically plan their visits during the Ubumuntu Arts Festival to witness the coming together of people and nations from diverse backgrounds. "Within our exhibitions, we showcase the historical instances where the world seemingly abandoned Rwanda during the Genocide,” he clarified. "It is crucial for these guests to witness, through the medium of art, the unity and solidarity that the world can achieve.”
Carlos Renedo echoes this sentiment, emphasizing that the Ubumuntu Arts Festival holds the utmost significance for their ballet organisation. He firmly believes that this festival serves as a unifying force, bringing people together. Quoting Maya Angelou, he states, "We are more alike than we are unalike,” highlighting the essential shared humanity that binds us all.
The Ubumuntu Arts Festival centers around a powerful means of communication, providing a platform for expressing opinions, addressing pertinent issues, and sharing universal values that impact humanity as a whole. This commitment to meaningful dialogue is vividly represented by a vibrant wallpaper behind the panelists' seats, displaying an array of words and slogans that aptly capture the festival's core values: rebirth, restoration, unity, integrity, respect, stop-breathe-live, forward-upward-onward, we are human together, you are because I am, and many more.
To embrace and embody these values, Chase Johnsey, who first visited Rwanda five years ago, spoke about the profound beauty of the festival, highlighting that every performance is a collaborative effort. "It's incredible to witness five ballet dancers from Rwanda now dancing alongside a professional company, and they look absolutely amazing,” Johnsey said. "In Spain, we don't have this same cultural dynamic, but the Rwandan people gift each other their smiles, 'Amakuru?' and 'Mwaramutse?' greetings. Maya Angelou talks about being rainbows in people's clouds, and despite the tragic history that has unfolded here, I am blessed to have rainbows in my clouds every single day thanks to the Rwandan people.” He further emphasized that he cannot fully articulate the magnitude of the past catastrophe that occurred 29 years ago, but he can certainly attest to the overwhelming love he has received in Rwanda.
Behind the polished presentations witnessed by the audience, there exists a multitude of less glamorous elements taking place behind the scenes. The process of conveying our stories through art, in a manner that resonates with others, is far from mechanical. These artists infuse their performances with their unique sensibilities, emotional experiences, and personal backgrounds. Additionally, it is essential to acknowledge that artists often carry significant personal baggage, which inevitably influences their creative work.
And that precisely, Azeda says, is the essence of the Ubumuntu Arts Festival: establishing an environment that cultivates empathy. Anderson Carvalho further echoed this sentiment through a moving ode dedicated to the festival. "It was late at night and I felt the need to come home and reconnect with my brothers and sisters. Reconnecting with my family... I felt the need to hold their hands and together walk towards equal freedom. It’s about a community coming together to guide each other towards healing. Your pain is our pain and therefore we feel it. Your love is our love and therefore we share it...”
Amidst affirmative nods and murmurs of agreement, he went on to elaborate on the significance of having spaces where individuals can freely express their emotions. "For me, Ubumuntu is not merely a festival where there is competition and a winner,” he conveyed. "Instead, it represents a gathering of a unified community.” Carvalho talked about the importance of creating more such spaces, where artists can step away from the entertainment-focused aspect of art and delve into a more authentic, human-centered, and empathetic realm.
"In this context, there is no competition or judgment of someone's work as 'bad.' When artists are sharing their feelings, their innermost thoughts, how can we label it as ‘bad’? It comes from within, from a deeply personal place.” There are two distinct types of arts, he continued, "What we strive for is the art of humanity, the art of unity. We are expanding, we are reducing, we are multiplying, but without unification, we are incomplete. Ubumuntu serves as a powerful means to bring everyone together and foster that much-needed unity.”
This weekend, the Ubumuntu Arts Festival, themed ‘Believe: Faith Over Fear,’ will witness the representation of over 30 countries through 50+ captivating performances spanning across three days. During the press conference, Azeda conveyed a poignant reminder to the attendees, stating, "Attending the Ubumuntu Arts Festival is not a one-time thing. Once you come, you keep coming back.” When it comes to the festival's expansion, Azeda expressed genuine excitement about Brazil's involvement this year, as they will be hosting a cultural diplomacy conference scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday. This conference promises to significantly enhance the exchange of ideas, information, art, language, and various aspects of culture between nations and peoples, fostering mutual understanding. Looking ahead, Azeda shared her enthusiasm for future editions, expressing the intention to reprogram, restructure, and further expand the festival's reach to engage with other communities.