The celebration of Bulawayo Day and the hosting of the Bulawayo Arts Festival aims to enable local people and our global visitors to participate meaningfully in the cultural life of the city, and it provides an opportunity for Bulawayo to showcase its proud heritage, rich diversity, creative nature, resilience and majesty. This explosion of arts and culture will put Bulawayo on the global spotlight and encourage its tourism and business potential.
The Bulawayo Arts festival will be held from 1-5 June 2020 under the theme “WOW” (short for We own Winter) as all activities will illuminate the usually not so active winter month in Zimbabwe.
The inaugural Bulawayo Arts Festival was held from 1 - 5 June 2020. This citywide international arts festival will be anchored by a day of the celebration of Bulawayo being declared as a city.
Bulawayo was established as a town in 1894 on the site of King Lobengula’s capital and acquired municipal status in 1897. From this proud history of African royalty dating back to and beyond Kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula, Bulawayo city is a creative capital in the Southern African region constantly churning out talent and arts products that have been consumed the world over.