The August 31 deadline marked the start of the selection process for the next edition of Cameroon's National Festival of Arts and Culture (FENAC), to be held in Bertoua. Troupes and artists from the country's ten regions were required, before that date, to contact their regional Arts and Culture delegation to put together their application.
Organized under the Ministry of Arts and Culture (MINAC), FENAC brings together delegations from across the country every two years around music, dance, visual arts and traditional forms. Each edition follows the same pattern: a regional selection process first, followed by a national gathering in the host city.
The event traces its roots to the 1982 Cameroonian Cultural Week, then the 1988 Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), before officially taking the name FENAC in 1994, at an edition held in Douala. The festival had been established a few years earlier by presidential decree, on April 8, 1991, with the stated aim of strengthening national unity through the country's diverse artistic expressions.
Subsequent editions each carried their own theme: "Treasures of Tradition" in Ngaoundere in 1996, "Dialogue of Cultures: The Cameroonian Model" in Limbe and Buea in 2000, and "Culture and Cameroon's Emergence" in Yaounde in 2016. The most recent edition before this one was held in 2018, also in Bertoua, under the theme "Cultural Diversity, Identity and National Unity."
The festival's return to the capital of the East region, eight years after that 2018 edition, once again places Bertoua at the center of the national cultural calendar. The city had then hosted several days of performances and exhibitions bringing together delegations from across the country.
The detailed program for this new edition, including exact dates, has yet to be announced by MINAC, pending completion of the regional selection phase. It is on the basis of applications submitted before August 31 that the delegations set to represent each region in Bertoua will be finalized.
