I am at HIFA! Writing this from a 7th Floor room of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, to the sound of tonights' main stage artist and her band doing their sound check - the hotel is at the heart of the Harare International Festival of the Arts, and becomes home for the week for everyone taking part at HIFA. Amazingly Oria and I have also managed to wind up staying here too - thanks to a friend of a friend...and moreover, for free. Bonza! From the sounds coming through the open window, it sounds like tonights' gig on the main stage is going to be a treat. So far our time here has been great. Being surrounded by a dynamic, creative vibe is brilliant and there is so much talent and so little pretension here - it's wonderful! It also marks a chance for Oria & I to feel something of how far we've both come in a year. Last HIFA we were new to the Arts scene in Zimbabwe and we both made commitments for what we wanted to achieve by the next HIFA!

What's very exciting is how much we've learned over the past year and how many more key contacts and friends we have. I feel so much more established and after a good long stretch of listening and networking I am now in a position where I feel more established and ready to step forward with my own ideas and projects.

It's also been important and exciting talking about The Lounge with key people and letting them know what is happening in the Bulawayo scene - often seen as Harare's poor relation - an position I'd strongly contest on the basis of all the talent I've seen over the last 18 months. Those who have travelled up from 'Skies have a certain solidarity with one another which is also something fun to be part of. It's great to also have Tswa here with us - a last minute, impulsive decision on his part to head to H-Town with Oria & I. In my opinion he definitely needed to be here.

Last night's amazing gig with the ridiculously talented (and beautiful!) Sara Tavares from Portugal/Capo Verde was awesome.

Then after that we had all got tickets for Spitfire, a South African performance poet with a hip hop vibe. It made for a diverse evening for sure. Spitfire was breath-taking in terms of his use of language and confrontational (in a good way!) dealing with issues.

Of the guys we were with, quite a few are also practitioners of this genre and their appreciation of his rhymes and style was also fun to see. Afterwards they stuck around and met him to compare notes...

I've also been to some seminars and networking sessions with some key players from Harare and the international scene in the arts. These have been really important and strategic and have led to having some good break away meetings with people. In particular talking about successful ways to combine theatre and development in a practical format.

This morning the seminar was a roundtable around The Artist in Conflict and led to a really fab conversation and debate from the panel.

Must go now, out of time before the next gig! More soon...