Cotton Fest, one of the biggest music and youth culture festivals in South Africa, and a project of the late music and fashion icon, Riky Rick, will launch its Durban leg in July.

The announcement was made last week by Bianca Naidoo, who founded the festival in 2019 with her husband, Rick.

Cotton Fest is an urban music and culture festival which has grown to become one of the most anticipated events in entertainment in South Africa. It has become known for celebrating South African street culture through music, fashion, popular sport, art, food, and more.

The Durban leg of the festival will be held on July 2 at the Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium outer field.

In an interview with POST, Naidoo said the line-up would remain under wraps for now.

“The format of the festival is always to announce the line-up during the second phase. Cotton Fest features talent from across the country in each city. Cotton Fest Durban is no different and will include both well-known and emerging talent from Durban.

“Cotton Fest was fundamentally created to give both established and young talent a platform to showcase their craft, and further fuse the gaps within the different local current movements.

“The festival hosts a minimum of two stages at every edition of the event to ensure this is catered for. As always, the festival will host an open mic in the respective cities and run an online submission process for all young local talent to upload their music, with the most talented artists being selected to perform at the festival,” she said.

Naidoo said taking Cotton Fest to Durban, Rick’s birthplace, was always part of his plan, and was particularly special to the whole team. She said since her husband’s death the event had evolved.

Bringing Cotton Fest to the city where he was born, Durban, was always part of the event’s vision for Riky Rick (pictured). Picture: Cotton Fest Facebook

“Cotton Fest was initially created as a platform for young talent, but it has since evolved into a movement since Ricky’s passing. The festival will remain a three-city event with definite plans to expand within those regions.

“Outside of the festival, there are various other initiatives within our creative programme, which, since inception in 2022, has been created to further grow the movement, that is the Bursary Fund, Friends Day, campus events and collaborations with creatives to support various subcultures.

“Honestly, our goal is to take Cotton Fest to the rest of Africa and even overseas, but right now we are focused on South Africa.”

Highlights of the event include:

In addition to the live music, fashion, art and a sports arena are highlights of the festival. Picture: Cotton Fest/Facebook.

– The Cotton Stage: It will feature headline artists, while the second stage will feature the new wave of young talent.

– The Tuckshop: The merchandise area will not only offer Cotton Fest classics, but it will also feature collaborations from proudly South African brands and local creatives offering unique pieces, and limited branded fashion items and accessories.

– Sports Area: a skating ramp and obscure games arena for all sport enthusiasts.

For more information, visit cottonfest.com and follow Instagram: cottonfestjhb, Facebook: CottonFestJHB, Twitter: CottonFestJHB

Tickets via Webtickets and Pick n Pay outlets.

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