On Saturday, Maitisong Hall held the first ever Botswana Amateur Arts Festival, which was hosted by the Botswana Amateur Arts Foundation who are hoping to keep it running every year.
The event consisted of performances followed up by workshops, attended by Rainbow and Maru A Pula Secondary Schools.
The forty-five minute performances, which were rehearsed and open to the public, were critiqued by a panel of judges composed of doctors, drama teachers, university lectures and professional actors.
The workshop gave students a chance to hone their acting skills. Upcoming actors and actresses were present and gave students a platform to direct their own production and learn how to write their own on scripts.
The students learnt how to come across as good actors and they worked on various techniques to improve their acting skills.
In an interview with the Telegraph a Maru a Pula student, Relebohile Ntsabane, said she was delighted at the experience she gained but would have liked to see a bigger turnout.
“Overall it was great. The only bad part was that other schools did not attend. It would have been interesting because we could have benefitted from each other,” she said.
Ntsabane further explained that patience must be observed to allow the festival to grow into something that will benefit the whole community.
“The initiative will be more out there to the public and will be recognised with time,” she added.
The festival coordinator, Kabelo Rapinyane, told the Telegraph how he believes the event was a success despite Gaborone Senior Secondary School and St Joseph College pulling out of the festival.
“It was successful in the objective, maybe not in attendance,” he said.
He also looked to the future and reminded the public that they will be more to come next year.
“Next year people can look forward to a day full of arts and culture; there will be dance and signing to compliment the arts,” he said.
The motto on the day was not to let fear of failing keep you from doing what you want to do and for one to be true to who they are and not be afraid to reach for the stars.
Awards were given to the students that impressed during the festival.
