Jozi celebrates 30 years of Arts Alive Festival with exciting cultural content

Mshudulu said through the festival, the City can employ artists and create opportunities for SMMEs but also has a multiplier impact on food, beverage, apparel, and hospitality establishments in the City.

Pansula dancers at the Clash of the Regions Orange Farm Auditions as part of the Arts Alive festival by City of Johannesburg, 10 November 2022. Picture: joburg_artsalive/Instagram.

JOHANNESBURG – The City of Joburg is celebrating 30 years of the Arts Alive International Arts Festival, and they have put together impressive cultural content for all to enjoy.

The festival – set to come to an end next month, is a convergence of various creative sectors brought to life by some of South Africa’s most celebrated artists and features events hosted in and around the city’s most iconic spaces.

“We are hoping that the festival will impact the youth in two ways. Firstly, create the necessary awareness of how young and emerging artists can better monetise and protect their intellectual property. This was also visible through initiatives such as Moshito and the recognition of young talent through the Beatmakers Festival.

“Secondly, we are hoping to impact on programming initiatives that will be more empowering and attractive for youth audiences,” said the City of Joburg Director of Arts and Culture, Mr Vuyisile Mshudulu.

The yearly festival is about celebrating the city’s vibrant tapestry of arts and culture while offering visual arts, theatre, music, poetry, comedy, dance, masterclasses, and workshops.

Mshudulu said through the festival, the City can employ artists and create opportunities for SMMEs but it also has a multiplier impact on food, beverage, apparel, and hospitality establishments in the City.

Mshudulu also noted the adverse impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the arts sector as many did not have sustainable income.

“You would recall that even when many other sectors such as aviation were operating at full capacity, our theatres and arts venues couldn’t operate at full capacity. This had a serious impact, leading to many companies in the art folding, many struggling across all fields from music, dance, theatre, design.”

“We are now in recovery and it is seeing for example the Back to the City or the Global Dance Supreme attracting capacity crowds for their festival that we know that Arts Alive this year had played a role in achieving the desired economic impact in the local arts scene.”

For 30 years, the Arts Alive Festival has created an outlet for artists to use arts as a tool to create safe and creative spaces for expression within the city. The City says the festival has always been an opportunity for Joburg citizens to share their stories and experiences through multiple artistic mediums.

“The Festival had annually featured artists with disabilities. We have collaborated with Yonela Mnama to present musical productions in the past. As part of Arts Alive this year, we hosted the festival of schools of people with disabilities who presented various artistic productions at the Soweto Theatre,” said Mushudulu of the inclusivity of the festival.

Mshudulu also pointed out how various productions raise awareness on the issues of gender-based violence.

“For example, we recently had a dance production inspired by the ideals of Bantu Biko which highlighted issues of gender-based violence as one of the leading issues in our yearning for freedom.”

For all the latest lifestyle News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.