There are mythical tales that are told about ‘Decembers in Zimbabwe’, or silly season as it’s also known, when business as usual in Harare shuts down for two weeks over Christmas. We’re always up for an adventure, so in December 2012 we headed out to Zimbabwe to get some of the action and check out the local young creative scene.
Not only are the arts and creative industries key drivers of creativity and innovation, they also directly contribute to the local economy financially and culturally. This is why we’re such big champions of young creative entrepreneurs in Africa, so we threw a Pop Up Garden Party in Harare bringing together Harare’s best creatives to showcase, inspire and collaborate while raising money for local youth charity Lead Us Today. Fashion designers brought their collections to sell, live music came courtesy of the stunning Ammara Brown, indie hip hop band The Monkey Nuts, and hip hop heavy weights Tehn Diamond and Junior Brown. Our photographer, video producer, DJ and foodie entrepreneur are all also rising stars in Zimbabwe’s creative scene and worked hard to satisfy the 300 strong crowd that turned up to see what Harare had to offer.
Since seeing the video and photos on our Facebook page from our trip, many people have told us that they had no idea there was such a vibrant young creative scene in Harare. Most of what comes up on Google about Zimbabwe is very negative, but there is also a generation of extremely talented, ambitious young people who are carving out better futures for themselves and their communities.
You can see how it went in the video, but let’s just say Zimbabweans know how to throw down! It can only get bigger and better!
To celebrate Africa Day and the launch of our store, as well as to raise money for Emergency UK’s paediatric centre in Bangui, Central African Republic, we are organising an event on Saturday 25th May that we would love for you to come to. I’ve attached the flyer and more details can be found here:
