Culture: Ubumuntu Arts Festival (July 14, 2017)
2017/8/2
The Third annual Ubumuntu Arts Festival took place at the amphitheater of the Kigali Genocide Memorial from July 14 to 16. The festival was inaugurated in 2015, and this year, theater companies from 13 countries around world performed plays and dances under the theme of “humanity”.
The venue of the festival, the dome-shaped outdoor theater, was constructed in 2014 with the assistance of the Government of Japan amounting 1.9 million US dollar. The amphitheater has been used for peace education and youth training as well as the venue of Genocide Memorial Ceremony. This year, two Japanese set designers, Ryo Sakamoto and Naoka Fukushima, were invited and stayed in Rwanda for one month to design and decorate the amphitheater.
At the opening ceremony on July 14, Ambassador Miyashita said, “Japanese people understand what happened in Rwanda in 23 years ago well, because Japanese people have also experienced big tragedies such as war and natural disasters. Even though Japan is distant from Rwanda physically, we are close mentally”.
The venue of the festival, the dome-shaped outdoor theater, was constructed in 2014 with the assistance of the Government of Japan amounting 1.9 million US dollar. The amphitheater has been used for peace education and youth training as well as the venue of Genocide Memorial Ceremony. This year, two Japanese set designers, Ryo Sakamoto and Naoka Fukushima, were invited and stayed in Rwanda for one month to design and decorate the amphitheater.
At the opening ceremony on July 14, Ambassador Miyashita said, “Japanese people understand what happened in Rwanda in 23 years ago well, because Japanese people have also experienced big tragedies such as war and natural disasters. Even though Japan is distant from Rwanda physically, we are close mentally”.
