The Community Arts Development Programme reaches its crescendo this weekend with back-to-back shows in three different venues across Gauteng.
The largest gathering is at the TX Theatre, Moses Molelekwa Art Centre in Tembisa, where the Haunting Directors’ Festival will feature around ten stage plays, most of them new and from young and cutting-edge directors such as Nyanga Nombewu KaMabandla, Oupa Archie Matsetela, Siyambonga Mdubeki, and Monageng “Vice” Motshabi.
According to TX Theatre Artistic Director Mxolisi Masilela, the festival provides an opportunity for artists to promote their traditional performing arts while maintaining their distinguished artistic values.
“It is an experimental theatre festival that provides opportunities for expertise learning, exchanges, and interactions between local and international artists,” he said.
One of the plays premiering on the 100-seat theatre is Katlego Evelyn Nkgodi’s “Woman Scorned,” a story of an “imprisoned” woman who is suffering from mental health after a horrific past, having murdered before. It presents a strong case to haunt audiences and teach them too.
Other plays premiering at the festival include “Stevovo the Puppeteer,” “Selekane,” “Isililo,” “Adam’s Ale,” “Flames from a Spoja,” “Ixakatho,” “Don’t Shoot,” and “Blacksmith.”
In the Vaal, Everton’s Wilberforce Community Hall will be bustling with artistic activity as Invention Productions stages their Local Transformation Festival. And further west in Krugersdorp.
The ChokoFive Movement will host a potpourri of cultural activities, including poetry, dance, comedy showcases, and a crafts market.
These weekly community art activities, which began last month, are part of the Community Arts Development Programme’s annual initiative called “Back to the Township.”
“We are excited about the future of this project because at last, the arts are coming back home, where they belong among the people. This is where our people live, and their stories and culture are reflected in almost all these works,” says coordinating manager Mpho J. Molepo Sr.
“We have brought these stories to the people’s doorsteps. There is no additional cost of transport to access them. That’s our future plan to encourage centres of excellence that showcase local talent and make the arts accessible within our backyards.”
Last weekend, a record 300 people gathered at the Katlehong Arts Centre to witness the VAP Dance Academy & Studios project’s “Cream of Khatorus” extravaganza. Other events that have occurred as part of the programme include the Vuka Tuka at Rhoo Hlatshwayo Arts Centre, Pargod’s “King of the Streets” in OlievenHoutBosch, Cosmo and Honey Dew Arts Expo in HoneyDew, Ingoma Township Music Crunch in Tembisa, and Bokamoso Arts Centre’s Creative Arts Festival in Hammaskraal.
The year began with Luthando Arts Academy’s groundbreaking Kosha Summer Festival, Orange Farm Dance Theatre Studio’s Rwedo Rwangu, and Dlala MaPantsula’s “Reflections of West” Creative Workshops.
Over 25 arts projects are participating across the five corridors of Gauteng in this initiative, presented by The Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture together with the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture, and Recreation in partnership with the Gauteng Sports Confederation and the Community Art Centres Network Federation.