What exactly is Ibumba International Festival?

Introduction

Ibumba International Festival is an innovative programme which will see football and the arts come together to engage young people families and the community at large. The usually large annual gathering and engagements of arts, culture, theatre and football is set to finish the festival in a social manner. The event will take place on the morning and afternoon of Wednesday 22 December 2010.

History of Football at Ibumba

This high quality programme is part of Ibumba International Festival which was founded as "Ibumba Winter Festival" by the world travelled Siyaya Arts in 1996 as a way and means of giving back to the community their skills, expertise, successes and experiences. The name "Ibumba", meaning the "clay used to mould" was adopted as it reflects the spirit of which the founders strive, i.e. building a tomorrow for the arts, today. It is their continual belief that the festival will help to mould a future for the arts by impacting the individual, the family, the community, the country, Africa and the world. The festival strongly supports the work of local artists and the community as they continually allocate local artists and productions prime performance spaces even when they have international participation. Since inception, the festival has been primarily funded by Siyaya Arts through performances, sometimes with minimal support from the corporate world and donor world.

The Festival The Players

Invitations have already been sent to 8 different area/sector teams in Bulawayo. The defending champions, Team Makokoba are expected to give the aspiring teams a torrid time. Team Nguboyenja, Team Barbourfields and Team Mzilikazi will be looking to close loopholes that saw them lose out the last time around. Newcomers, Team Njube and surroundings and Team Nkulumane and Nketa are expected to come to add the flavour. They are known to have the talent that will keep fans entertained and even challenge for the honours. Of course, Team Artists and Team Media appear underdogs on paper, but then football is not played on paper. You will also remember how many artists and media personnel could have easily became professional footballers. Ezrom Nyandoro, Zimbabwe Warriors and Mamelodi Sundowns performed arts for Siyaya as a youngster 14 years ago.  

A community team has been tasked with the effort of putting together and registering a pool of 25 players per team to play in the festival tournament. The games will be open to anyone regardless of sex, age and profession as long as the players are willing to play as a team for social purposes and abide by the festival rules which will strongly based on the general FIFA football rules. Teams will also pay a nominal non-refundable registration fee of $20 per team. Organisers are also having finishing touches on a delicious list of prizes that will be announced on the Ibumba Festival website http://www.ibumbafestival.com/ when the programme is released.

The 2010 Festival Theme – "LOL"

 LOL. Laugh out loud? Yes, here it is but "Live Out Loud" Asked about the idea, Simon Mambazo Phiri of Siyaya Arts, the brains behind 2010 Ibumba Festival said, "This is an expression of the way we expect our work, audiences, partners and the community to blossom as we aid the regeneration and branding of Zimbabwe and take a role in confirming that it is Time for Africa. This theme will be used to maximise freedom of expression as anything 'said out loud' has a bigger chance of being heard. We will shout out, and  loudly" Already the publicity of the event is loud and they say the music will even be louder and the festival will be embracing for all and sundry. Unless you will be watching football anywhere else, here it will also play a role in making the noise for sure.

2010 Team Menu

The last two editions of the festival has seen football being played and special 2010 edition honours the historic first ever Africa hosted FIFA World Cup and comes in with promises of an improved programme of the world's beautiful game. Previous plans and executions will be retained and improved and the main focus is to make football part of the festival. As we "Live out Loud" at Ibumba 2010 we look forward to making the games more exciting and friendly.

Football matches were first played in 2008 at Robert Tredgold where four teams of Artists were drawn to play for the ultimate prize of a Floating Shield and some prize money. 2009 saw four teams consisting Siyaya Artists, Team Makokoba, Team Mzilikazi and Team Barbourfields and the games were played at Ross Camp and the Shield and prize went to Team Makokoba

 Your Support

Such a huge and world class event will attract global attention. An exclusive commercial sponsorship package is being offered to all to consider being a partner or sponsor of Ibumba Festival Football Tournament and be associated with the festival’s diverse aspects, which are multi-cultural, inter-disciplinary, inter-racial, inter-sexual, celebratory and above all, community oriented. The generosity of the corperate world, individuals and well wishers will go a long way in making the block blaster of a show into a wild minster entertainment extravaganza.

The hire of Ross Camp Stadium is $100.00 while security will cost $200.00 to make it a truly save family environment. The match official fees will be $200.00 as it is intended to make football matches both entertainment and value with professionalism. At this point, prizes and awards are expected to be around $800.00 while balls and nets will take $100.00 of the budget. With a transport budget of $200.00, the minimum total sponsorship of $1600,00 is sought from all those who can help. More can be done for the benefit of the community. The sponsors and advertisers will be given publicity on this blog as well. 

Sponsorship Opportunities

Asked about what exactly they expect from the sponsors, Mbazo said, "We are very flexible in our approach and welcome any new and interesting suggestions with regards to partnerships provided that they are in keeping with the ethos of the festival and add value to our event." He said they have in place an immediate decision making capacity on anything that people may require in terms of ideas or information, adding, "There are a number of different ways in which we see partnerships working but these are by no means set in stone and we are prepared to negotiate with interested parties at any time. Our door is always open." He expressed how keen they were to engage many stakeholders. Their biggest wish is that the partnerships they set up in 2010 are for the long term rather than simply for the 2010 event as this enables them to keep the momentum going.

What Sponsors Can Expect

Ibumba International Festival are prepared to offer promotional opportunity in return for various levels of spend or in-kind support like branding and naming rights for the whole football tournament, branding, logos and web addresses on all flyers produced and distributed throughout Bulawayo (via venues, tourist racks, shops, restaurants etc), via door drops to targeted households in the townships and suburbs, branding and web links within the official festival programme (as long as the partnership is confirmed before going to print) as well as logos and mentions on the Partners page on the www.ibumbafestival.com website plus addition of a direct link from the festival website and reference on their sister sites at www.sabelamusic.com and the www.siyaya-arts.com site. They will also be mentions in national media coverage through their media partners and through theirr press campaigns and mutual e-mailer to their client databases of over 5000 addresses to announce the partnership.  

Conclusion


Also in the package is the tickets for hospitality and reduced price ticket offers for partners' own clients for other festival events. This list is not exhaustive and other suggestions can be discussed depending on your funding and desires. They offer an excellent opportunity for strong brand promotion and involvement in a niche arts market which targets and involves the young as well as the established artists and audiences. Ibumba Festival Community Football Tournament is an opportunity for artists, the young and families to create a unique home grown community engagement project, and a chance for companies and businesses to engage corporate sponsorship.

As you go to the arts and theatre festival and enjoy the diski, remember to make a difference in the community you so much love, but not for just your self, but for those growing up so they can have the same or even better opportunities that you had in times gone by. Wishing you a "Loud Festival" at Ibumba 2010! See you there.