Preparations for the second edition of Iteka African Cultural Festival (IACF2024), slated for January 24-27, is in high gear as performers end rehearsals, Yannick Niyonzima, the brains behind the event, has said.

Niyonzima said this during a presser held on Monday, January 22, to discuss this years’ theme of the festival and explore its genesis.

"The theme "Art, a Tool for Humanity", celebrates diverse African cultures and the transformative power of art in fostering unity, humanity, social cohesion and peace. And its in that line that we organized this event to promote entertainment tourism and create jobs for the youth,” he said during the presser.

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Niyonzima went on to say that the festival will be taking place every year to showcase talent and popularize African culture as well as showcase the role of culture in rebuilding and restoring unity.

"Our goal with this festival is to make it a big impactful event in our country and its not something we can do overnight, which is why we look up to have it annually. We are also considering taking it upcountry in our next editions,” Niyonzima added.

For Micheal Makembe, one of the artistes on the line-up of the event, this is a good visionary platform which is in line with the countries development journey of supporting home-grown talents and give them space to shine.

The artiste, best known on fusing Gakondo (Rwanda’s traditional music style) and modern genres, also believes that with more events like Iteka African culture festival, there is hope that Rwandans will have ownership of their music heritage which is something that the industry lack at the moment.

The festival will be held at various venues including the Institut français du Rwanda Kimihurura and Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village known as Camp Kigali.

At the Institut Français, Niyonzima said that there will be a program titled 'School Intercultural Talents', where schools will compete in cultural and artistic competitions and also participate in workshops to discuss the rights of the child and prevention of drug use among young people.

The second edition of the festival comes in style with a long list of talented performers and musicians including Josh Ishimwe, Club Intwari, Michael Makembe, Himbaza Club and Intayoberana ballet, Christus Regnat choir, Abeza b'Akaranga, Umuti Arts and many others that will be announced soon.

Tickets to the show are already available at RGtickets.com.