The European Union Bushfire Schools Festival invites secondary schools, high schools, and out-of-school art and youth clubs in Eswatini to apply for the 14th edition of the annual EU Bushfire Schools Open Day, on Thursday, 29 May 2025.
Applications open on 27 February 2025 and close on 27 March 2025. Application forms are now available on the MTN Bushfire website, www.bush-fire.com/schools-festival. Please note that only online submissions will be accepted.
The EU Bushfire Schools Festival welcomes applicants who demonstrate discipline and a passion for the arts in the fields of music, contemporary and traditional dance, drama, poetry, technology, visual arts and craft.
Applications must reflect the guiding theme of the EU Bushfire Schools Festival Open Day: ‘Art as the Driver in the Pursuit of Sustainability,’ which highlights the crucial role that art and creativity play in tackling the critical challenges of our time. Through its various forms, art serves as a powerful tool for raising awareness about sustainability issues, sparking meaningful conversations, and inspiring action on global challenges such as environmental sustainability, poverty eradication, community resilience, and gender equality, among others.
This falls under the umbrella theme for the 2025 edition of MTN Bushfire: “Unity, Creativity & Sustainability”, reflecting both the festival’s core mandate to use the transformative power of the arts to inspire and ignite positive environmental, social and economic change, as well as the EU Youth Action Plan’s aim to promote meaningful youth participation and empowerment globally for sustainable development, equality and peace.
Established in 2010 to support the creation of a national arts curriculum in public schools, the EU Bushfire Schools Festival facilitates creative performances, workshops, and interactive outreach programs for students as well as teachers. Since inception, it has hosted over 10,280 learners, 695 teachers, and 76 Facilitators.
Please read the requirements on the application form carefully. Queries should be emailed to [email protected] or sent via WhatsApp to EU Bushfire Schools Assistant Mangisi Maphanga, at 7650 5423. Successfully selected groups will be notified by Friday 4 April 2025.
