Huambo – The Huambo Cultural Centre, under construction, will benefit of a higher-level arts school for the academic and professional training of artists.
It was announced last Friday, in statements to the press, by the minister of Culture and Tourism, Filipe Zau, at the end of a visit to the development to find out about the progress of the works, which began in 2011.
The infrastructure, whose works resumed in 2022, after five years of stoppage, will consist of two cinema-theaters, two conference rooms, a space for the presentation of works of art, literature and music, two dance rooms, an equal number for visual arts and handicrafts and one for exhibitions.
Once completed, it will also have 11 artistic and cultural specialty stores, a restaurant on the 2nd floor, overlooking the upper part of the city, two cafés facing the lower part of the city, support areas for actors and musicians during its stage exhibitions and two rooms for music classes.
Without going into details, the minister, who works for two days in central Huambo Province to X-ray the sector he heads, said that the project aims to provide qualified training for students from different provinces in the country and abroad who intend to study the sciences of arts, in their varied specificities.
The minister mentioned that, the intention is to respond to the challenges of specific training in culture which, in general, has been forgotten in several training projects in the country and, as a result, create, in the near future, a national symphony orchestra.
According to the responsible, the city of Huambo has adequate conditions for the promotion of training in the different art specificities, as it has several public and private higher education institutions, which can help in the implementation of the project and, in the end, absorb the staff trained for the development of teaching, research and scientific research activities.
The minister also informed that the initiative aims to develop art, through training, as well as the full functioning of the Huambo Cultural Center, with the continuous realization and with the desired quality of cultural activities, in terms of music, theater, dances, among others.
On the occasion, Filipe Zau was impressed with the current status of the Cultural Center's works, which register a degree of physical execution above 80%.
He pointed to August for its completion and inauguration of the project, explaining that the changes made to it, with the addition of other essential components for its full operation, made it not possible for it to be completed last February, as initially planned.
“We think that with its entry into operation, in synchrony with other cultural infrastructures, added to the role of the existing kingdoms and ombalas in the province, Huambo could become, in a short period of time, as Angola's cultural capital”, he predicted.
In another part of the interview, the minister admitted that it was necessary to create funds for the maintenance of the sector's infrastructure in the country, in order to avoid its degradation and, as a result, guarantee its full functioning for the development of culture.
Lack of money delays Huambo Museum works
The minister of Culture and Tourism also visited the Huambo Regional Museum, whose requalification works have been paralyzed for over a year, due to lack of financial resources.
On the occasion, the minister revealed that the ministerial department he heads is still looking for funding to resume the project soon.
For this purpose, he said that the possibility of inscribing the work in the next General State Budget (OGE) of the province or of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is being studied.
The minister also assessed the functioning of the Huambo Provincial Library, inaugurated in 2016, and held a meeting with the provincial governor, Lotti Nolika, with whom he debated, among various aspects, the administrative and budgetary management of the future cultural center, as well as the approval of its organic status.
The agenda for the second and last day of his working day includes a visit to the province's tourist attractions.
