Times Of Swaziland: 8 STAGES FOR 17TH MTN BUSHFIRE FESTIVAL

8 STAGES FOR 17TH MTN BUSHFIRE FESTIVAL
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Mxolisi Dlamini on 08/04/2024 08:33:00


MBABANE – There will be eight stages during the 17th edition of the MTN
Bushfire Festival.
This year’s festival is set to be hosted from May 31 – June 2 at House on
Fire and it was officially hosted last Friday at the Amphitheatre. The guest
speakers included His Excellency Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, the Minister of
 Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Jane Simelane, and the Minister of Sports,
Culture and Youth Affairs, Bongani Nzima, as well as the EU Ambassador,
Dessislava Choumelova. The proud sponsor of the festival, MTN Eswatini, injected
sponsorship amounting to E5 million during the launch.  Having eight stages this
year means festivalgoers will be in for a treat when it comes to music
performances. This was revealed by MTN Bushfire Festival Director, Jiggs Thorne
in a press statement. “Perhaps most exciting of all, the festival will boast
eight stages this year! Apart from the revered Main Stage, Amphitheatre and
Ballantine’s Firefly stages, the newly-added Bring Your Fire Zone stage will
enjoy a full programme, and this year the KidZone also gets a stage in its new,
expanded area. On top of all this, festival partners Corona, Heineken and
Jägermeister will all bring their fire with three performance and entertainment
stages. Festivalgoers will have to prepare for a wide-ranging feast of music to
suit every taste, and the MTN Bushfire festival app is recommended for
scheduling the acts that guests will want to see,” Thorne said.
He further shared that more space has been created to accommodate festivalgoers.
“This year, the main arena has been considerably extended, while the Golden
Lounge has almost doubled in size and now incorporates garden walks through some
of the indigenous vegetation at Malandela’s. The campsite environments have
been greatly expanded too, with even more permanent ablution facilities. More
parking space has been added to the festival and will remain as paid parking to
encourage carpooling, in order to lower traffic congestion and carbon
emissions,” he said.
Unpacked
Thorne also unpacked this year’s theme, citing that it calls for collective
action towards achieving a common goal. “MTN Bushfire’s clarion call to
action, ‘Bring Your Fire’ explores the transformative power of the arts to
inspire and illuminate individuals to ignite collective action to tackle the
burning issues of our time. This year, Bring Your Fire finds expression in the
MTN Bushfire theme ‘Fireworks’. At a time when there are so many pressing
global issues affecting humanity, MTN Bushfire’s ‘Fireworks’ theme, or
‘Fire at Work’, also manifests fire as action, dynamically presenting
festivalgoers with the opportunity to give of their time to ‘Bring Your
Fire’. Fireworks is about active service in the spirit of ‘Bring Your
Fire’, uniting and using our collective energy to improve the world for
ourselves and others. Your fire is your energy, your spirit, your passion, and
your drive to make a tangible difference,” Thorne said.
According to Thorne, this year’s theme will give birth to a new volunteer
initiative, which will be launched during the festival. “In 2024, MTN Bushfire
will bring the spirit of ‘Fireworks’ to life with an exciting new volunteer
initiative. This year, the festival will be launching the inaugural edition of
the annual ‘Bring Your Fire Volunteer Week’, which will be held annually in
June in collaboration with partner organisations. Festivalgoers will be able to
sign up for a day of service on online festival platforms, as well as at the
‘Bring Your Fire Zone’ during the festival weekend. More information will be
shared on our digital platforms shortly,” he said.
Extraordinary
Additionally, in another new initiative, MTN Bushfire is going to recognise an
extraordinary changemaker or dynamic organisation aligned with MTN Bushfire’s
Bring Your Fire values ,by giving them a free activation space in the Bring Your
Fire Zone, to advocate their cause as well as visibility on MTN Bushfire’s
digital platforms. MTN Bushfire will soon be inviting nominations, so stay tuned
for the call-out on all MTN Bushfire social media channels. Online Golden Lounge
tickets to the MTN Bushfire festival have once again sold out in record time,
but tickets are still available exclusively for emaSwati on MTN Mobile Money at
specially discounted rates. Tickets can be purchased through MoMo Marketplace on
WhatsApp. Eswatini Fire Starters should simply send ‘Hi’’ to 7808 4000
(‘MoMo Marketplace’) via WhatsApp, select Option 1 for MTN Bushfire and
follow the prompts to buy.