By Edwin Mauluka
Malawi government has reiterated commitment to support young creatives in the country as one way of fulfilling the vision of creating wealth for the people.
Minister of Tourism, Vera Kamtukule made the remarks on Friday evening when officially opening the NASFEST International Youth Cultural Festival 2025 at Madsoc Theatre in Lilongwe.
Kamtukule said the assenting of National Arts and Heritage Council (NAHEC) Act which most artists were much looking forward to, demonstrates government commitment to promoting arts and culture.
‘’I know that you are also looking forward to the establishment of Heritage Council and that is going to be done because the president of this country, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, knows the importance of art. As his legacy, he wants to create jobs, create wealth for his people but also to ensure that his people are food secure. And he knows that through arts and culture, we can create many jobs because we are a country with over 70 percent of young people most of whom are below the age of 35.’’ She said
Speaking about the NASFET International Youth Cultural Festival, Kamtukule applauded organisers for the work they are doing particularly of raising a generation that is going to have an identity.
‘’I like what I have seen so far.’’ She said then commended the youthful local and international participants for their willingness to take up issues of culture.
Commenting on the mission of NASFEST on preservation and promotion of culture and arts, as well as to inspire cultural exchange and cultural inclusion, the minister emphasised that young people should focus on promoting and preserving Africa culture and arts
‘’Heritage or culture is our place of power as Africans and as Malawians. That is why am excited that young people are willing to take this up because we have relegated the role of culture as something that is primitive or for people who don’t have something to do. So, if we have young people taking up careers as artists and people that want to promote culture, as government we should be celebrating. I am excited today that you could come up with this, so don’t worry about where we are.’’ she said
She further encouraged NASFEST organisers to keep pushing hard to make the event even bigger and appealed to artists to use their innovative and artistic prowess in their resource mobilisation drive in order to bring more sponsors to their events.
‘’I believe in young people, and I believe in your power to come up with something that is concrete and authentic and collectively our combined intelligence from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, we cannot fail to come up with something.’’ She added while encouraging participants at the event to tap into each other’s strategies and suit to their context.
NASFEST is organised by the Light of Youth Creative Organisation (LYCO) since 2009.
LYCO Director, James Kitchen noted that funding remains the major obstacle facing organisations working with young creatives in culture and arts.
However, he appreciated the Copyright Society of Malawi (CoSoMa) for supporting LYCO to organise the event this year.
‘’CoSoMa through Copyright Fund, supported us with funds for training workshops across the country whereby we trained young people close to 1,500 and we had regional festivals and here we are. We are also working with partners such as UNESCO, Department of Arts and the National Library.’’ Added Kitchen
He then asked the Ministry of Tourism to support LYCO in this annual event to help the organisation sustain fruits of cultural exchange facilitated through NASFEST.
‘’Young creatives from different countries come together and share knowledge in arts and cultural skills, so we want to work together with the ministry and support us during these festivals.’’ Added Kitchen
The festival began on Friday, February 7 and is expected to conclude on Sunday, February 9, 2025 at Madsoc Theatre in Lilongwe. The event has attracted participants from South Africa, Zambia and Malawi.
Standard ticket to the festival is going at K5,000 while VIP ticket is pegged at K10,000 and Ticket for the Double is going at K15,000.
