Rwanda will this year host the first edition of the EAC Arts and Culture Festival, a press statement from the government said on Wednesday. The event is slated to take place from 27 October to 4 November 2012. The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors Hon. Jesca Eriyo in a communication announced that Rwanda had been selected by the evaluation committee after “having submitted the most outstanding proposal.” Rwanda's bid to host the historic event eclipsed that presented by Uganda, which is the other EAC Partner State that had expressed interest in hosting the Festival. The EAC Arts and Culture Festival comes to life following a decision by the 23rd Council of Ministers meeting held in Arusha in September 2011 to have the region host regular arts and culture festivals. The festivals, to be hosted by the Partner States on a rotational basis, aim to foster an East African cultural identity that depicts the cultural life of East Africans, illustrate their cultural unity in diversity and to create an enabling environment for the promotion and development of arts and creative industries as a viable tool for sustainable socio-economic development. The festivals will in the long run contribute greatly towards the promotion of cultural tourism as well as conservation, safeguarding and development of cultural heritage and the overall marketing of regional cultural groups, workers and creators with their diverse products at regional and international levels. “The theme of this year's festival will be ‘Deepening Integration through Culture and Creative Industries', with the main objective of bringing artistes and East Africans together to dialogue, learn, exchange, network, and celebrate the region's rich and diverse cultural heritage,” Hon. Eriyo said. She added that the Festival will provide a platform for East Africans to celebrate their similarities and diversities, while deepening and widening the arts and culture market and promoting better understanding of the benefits of integration in the Community and beyond. Over the nine-day duration of the inaugural event, a variety of activities are planned, including cultural villages, art exhibitions, fashion shows, workshops and symposiums as well as live performances, among others. These will be conducted at more than five different venues. The first edition of the Festival has targeted to attract a minimum of 3,000 visitors, staying an average of 10 days with an average expenditure of $70 per day. This would generate visitor expenditure of $2.1 million.
