User:Mwenyeji Spikes/sandbox

'''THE CENTRAL WACKA WACKA FESTIVAL OF MUSIC, ARTS & CULTURE''' Celebrating Music, Freedom & Culture HISTORY/ BACKGROUND The Wacka Wacka festival, is an annual event that creates an open environment and creative space for the expression of culture through music and art. It aims at bringing people together in cultural celebrations and addressing various issues facing the society through an annual theme festival. The festival was established by the Jumbo Sawa arts and cultural heritage support group, a constituent member of the Mt. Kenya Karatina Ambassadors for tourism and culture. Started in the year 2010, the festival has continued to grow and attract the interest of community and cultural enthusiasts at large, with the festival participants and crowd growing in numbers year after year.

The 6th edition of the festival is scheduled for 12th December 2014, over the Jamhuri weekend in Nyeri Central Kenya. The festival, yet another reason for anyone to tour the Central, is organized by Jumbo Sawa, an arts and cultural heritage support youth initiative, the festival aspires to bring cultural enthusiasts and art lovers together and could be viewed as the melting pot of the Central Kenya culture. The event aims at appreciating, the vast and diverse features presented by the culture of the Kikuyu community to her descents and all those with vested interest and love for culture, in an experience second to none.

The annual highlights of the festival include, culture presentation in all its various strands; display of authentic Kikuyu fashion, live band performances, dances, arts and such as basketry, pottery among others and same time creating an ambiance that the audience can warm to, children fun games, face paintings and an all family fun day in cultural celebrations. The indigenous and lovers of the Kikuyu culture therefore, have the opportunity to experience the Kikuyu culture in its vastness, during the festival. With the increasing popularity of the use of Google maps application, it’s easy to locate, Central Kenya, but a lot more lies beneath the unrivaled scenic beauty spotted on the Google maps; the rich culture of the abounding Kikuyu community. The initiative to create and host, a cultural festival arose from the interest to embrace cultural diversity, and appreciate the rich culture of the Central Kenya region. Objectives i.	To increase awareness on the importance of cultural preservation and the role of music and arts in the society. ii. To celebrate the cultural heritage of the central Kenya’s people in a social front that’s creates harmonious realization of this goal iii. To encourage youth involvement and participation in activities aimed at preserving their identity and culture. iv. To create an opportunity to sensitive the community on issues such as HIV/AIDS, cohesiveness, drug abuse among others.

v.	To get the community appreciate the rich culture of the region and foster cooperation among community members.

vi. To provide numbers for key lifestyle brands

Festival’s theme in the year 2014 The annual resounding theme of the wacka wacka festival is the celebration of music, freedom and culture, however this time the festival also has a sub-theme etched to the recognition of the need to preserve cultural identity and thus the festival committee adopted the sub-theme titled;“Championing the cost for the course of cultural preservation” The sub theme is cultivated from the need to harmonize both the young and the old in the efforts geared towards cultural preservation and the cultural identity in our communities. The quest to maintain our cultural identity is not without cost and therefore the festival seek out to pass this message to the people, by the expression of the love for our culture during the two day festival.

Exhibiting Profiles The festival 2014 will see the exhibition of different materials all in the quest of expressionism of the love of our culture, ranging from African fashion kanga lifestyle by renown local and guest designers such as Angela Muthoni, an up and coming fashion designer from the region. The Jumbo Sawa artists also have a lot in store this year, traditional music to serenade you as well as both the contemporary and traditional dances to warm you up for the festivities. Both local and regional artists are gearing up to the task of entertaining a bigger crowd this year and achieving the outlined objectives through the festival this year. For bookings & more information, Kindly contact: Tabitha :Jumbosawa@gmail.com