Mapungubwe Arts Festival on at Cricket Club from Dec 17-22

The MEC for sport, arts and culture, Mirriam Ramadwa launched the ninth annual Mapungubwe Arts Festival at the Polokwane Royal Hotel last Tuesday.

The Mapungubwe Arts Festival was first hosted in 2002 and was known as the Melting Pot Festival. This melting pot of the cultural diversity of the people of Limpopo changed its name in 2004 to the Mapungubwe Arts Festival.

The programme for Mapungubwe Arts Festival 2013 will start with a street carnival on Tuesday, December 17 at Library Gardens.

The gospel festival will take place on Saturday, December 21 and the festival programme will close off with the Mapungubwe Jazz Festival on Sunday, December 22 at the Polokwane Cricket Club.

Ramadwa said: “The department continues to host this cultural carnival, parading in the streets, drama and the music festival because of the firm believe that the festival encourages tourism into the province which has positive economic spin-offs. The event fosters social cohesion, unity and nation building for the diverse population in the country. It is educational in nature for the younger generation so that they be exposed to local talent. The event is centre stage for artists to showcase their talents and thereby encourage and motivate young people”.

She said in order for the department to achieve this, they had to address what is commonly referred to as the four Rs of a brand: recognition, reputation, relevance and relationship.

“We want to ensure this brand is known, that it is known for something which is relevant and that the target market has a relationship with the brand which is measured by the depth of loyalty and involvement,” said Ramadwa.

The head of department, Basani Baloyi said the festival was well organised and that it cost the department R4,5 million to arrange all artists and events that will take place that week.

Tickets for the gospel festival cost R60, while the jazz festival costs R140.