The week-long event in the East Region regional capital will be opened today July 16, 2018 by Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang, representing the Head of State write CT.

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All sights will be set on Bertoua from July 16-22, 2018 as about 2,000 artistes and art exhibitors from the country’s 10 regions as well as national and foreign visitors converge on the East Regional headquarters to see and feel Cameroon’s diverse craft and cultures.

The Ninth National Festival of Arts and Culture, FENAC, will be inaugurated today July 16, 2018 by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang, who is representing His Excellency President Paul Biya. The PM will also commission some culture-related projects in town.

At least 500 artistes such as musicians, painters, dancers, sculptors, story narrators, etc, will take part in FENAC 2018. Founded on April 8, 1991 through a presidential decree, the National Festival of Arts and Culture holds this year with emphasis on living together on the theme, “Cultural diversity, identity and national unity.”

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Prof. Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, arrived in Bertoua on Saturday, July 14, 2018 and later toured various project sites to ensure that all was set for today’s opening.

He was accompanied East Provincial Governor, Gregoire Mvongo, who is also President the Local FENAC Organizing Committee. The festival has as main site the sprawling grounds of the National Centre for Youth and Sports, CENAJES Bertoua.

Other activities will hold at the Grandstand, Bertoua Town Hall and in the East Regional Delegation of Arts and Culture Conference Hall.

A giant, decorated stage for musical and other performances has already been set up at CENAJES, with accompanying acoustics. Some 200 stands have been erected, with possibility of adding more if the need arises. Over the weekend, truckloads of new mattresses arrived at the venue for distribution to exhibitors.

Elsewhere in Bertoua, T shirt designers have been putting last-minute touches to their products to be adorned by festival participants and visitors. Street decorations, painting of street edges and repairs of street lights are now over as Bertoua rolls out the red carpet for its distinguished guests.

Briefing Cameroon Tribune in Bertoua on July 14, 2018, the Ninth FENAC Festival Commissioner, His Majesty Mbombok Malet Ma Jam, said preparations were 95 per cent through, with the remaining 5 per cent being fine details to be concluded just before the opening ceremony.

He added that demand for stands was high because the least number of exhibitors from the country’s 10 regions invited by the Ministry of Arts and Culture, MINAC, ranges from 150 to 220; plus “independent” participants. At least 2,000 artistes and crafts people are taking take part in the one-week art and cultural fiesta.

According to Mbombok Malet Ma Jam, what is new this year is the construction of a festival monument adjacent the new East Regional Delegation of Art and Culture at CRTV Bertoua Junction.

Kimeng Hilton NDUKONG
 

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