Arts practitioners speak out

Showcasing an array of dance and theatre items from across the region, as well as workshops, the festival promises to elicit robust debate around the status of women in the performing arts. It is being held to coincide with International Women's Day on 8 March. Hosted by the South African Theatre Initiative (SATI), the festival is backed by the National Arts Council, the Department of Arts and Culture and the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

Leading arts practitioners

Members of the public are invited to come and hear the views of a number of leading arts practitioners from across the Southern Africa Development Community, discussing the issues facing women in the creative industries. South African arts practitioners who will be taking part in the conference include Marie France-Favory from Mauritius, Sindisiwe Nxumalo from Swaziland, Lara Foot Newton, Keketso Semoko, Annabell Lebethe, Sibongile Khumalo, Michelle Constant, Bobby Rodwell and Young Artist winner Ntshieng Mokgoro.

Issues for discussions will focus on funding, leadership, training and networking. The first national networks meeting, which will be open to public views, will be hosted during the workshops.

The festival is the culmination of research conducted by SATI in South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Swaziland, the Seychelles, Mozambique, Tanzania and Lesotho. Tanzanian academic Professor Amandina Lihamba set about to, broadly, investigate whether women's voices were being adequately heard in arts and literature circles in sub-Saharan Africa and she will present research findings during the conference.

Exclusion of women in the arts

"During the three SATI-led symposiums held between 2003 and 2005 for women in theatre in southern Africa, the exclusion of women in the arts echoed profoundly," explained Mpho Molepo, eExecutive director of SATI. "The sentiment was that women are not adequately recognised for their work, despite their hard labour put into creating their best productions. Women also feel they are not given adequate space to showcase their work."

The theatre and dance works presented at the festival have been selected for their potential to showcase the vast pool of female artistic skill and talent in the various SADC countries.

They are:

• Botswana: Strength of a Woman, written by and featuring Motshidisi Makgalemele. This short play centres on a group of young women in Francistown who tell their shocking and tragic true-life stories.
  
• Zambia: Lumba, featuring Mary Manzole. This is the story of Lumba, a chieftainess in the mid-19th century who raised an all-women army against an enemy tribe and who is celebrated as a powerful prophetess.
  
• Lesotho” 'Mantsopa, written by Limpho Mokhochane and starring Rethabile Malibo. 'Mantsopa, one of the cultural icons of Basotho history, is depicted through flashbacks in a play highlighting women's issues with plenty of humour and pathos.
  
• Zimbabwe: Ebony and Ivory, starring Privilege Mutendera. This story about two women explores the emotional rollercoaster and trauma caused by war, violence and torture.
  
• South Africa: Tseleng: The Baggage of Bags, written and performed by Mbali Kgosidintsi. Inspired by the writer's personal narrative, this play uses bags to represent her fragmented "memory moments", piecing them together like an intricate archaeological find.
  
• South Africa: Fruit, written and directed by Paul Noko and starring Semakaleng Osopeng. This play starts with a young girl escaping a house fire and evolves into a multi-layered story filled with fascination and intrigue.
  
• South Africa: Thursday's Child, written and directed by Ntshieng Mokgoro. The 2009 Standard Bank Young Artist for Drama presents her play about a young girl who is flung into destitution, abuse, squalor and prostitution when she is abandoned by her lovesick mother.
  
• South Africa: Thirteen, written and directed by Mncedisi Shabangu and starring Given Lunga. The well-known actor has penned a powerful physical theatre piece about a young woman whose husband-to-be dies a week before he was due to pay lobola.
  
• SADC collaborative dance piece: Washa Mollo, created and performed by Makgathi Mokwena, Mary Manzole and Kiswigu B Mpyanga, directed by Sara Matchett and choreographed by Tracey Human.

Come and exchange ideas and views with some of the subcontinent's most astute female performing arts minds, while taking in a selection of the region's top theatre and dance works. Each day's deliberations and discussions begin at 9am, with the performances taking place from 3pm daily.

Entrance is free but public wanting to attend please book your space by calling the SATI office on +27 (0)11 838 8932 or email .