The project in summary

Artistic activities and life skills sessions to reinforce the education of young South Africans in situation of socio-economic disadvantage in South Africa.

The project in detail

The project aims to integrate the education of young South Africans by offering them professional training in the artistic sector. It also aims to reinforce the competencies of local partners and help them reach autonomy. Finally, the project will produce a Manual on Life Skills that will be used during the project activities and that Masifunde will try to integrate to the curricula of the primary schools involved in the project working in collaboration with the Department of Education.
  • About 450 children and youths (estimated by the partner) between the ages of 11 and 18 from the township of Walmer;
  • Walmer Primary and High School;
  • Masifunde Learner Development, NGO in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) engaged in the promotion of education among disadvantaged children by providing scholarships, after-school tutoring and the extra-curricular activities: visual arts, theatre (“Born Free”), choir (“Masifunde” and journalism.
  • Butterfly Art Project, NGO in Vrygrond (South Africa), founded in 2010 with the aim to integrate creative activities and art-therapy into the after-school programme of the Vrygrond elementary school (Capricorn Primary School).
During 2017, the project Academy of Creativity, supported by Fondation Alta Mane, offered visual arts, drama and singing workshops as well as life skill sessions, to about 450 children and youths (estimated by the partner) in the Walmer Primary and High School in the Walmer township (Port Elizabeth). In addition, the Masifunde Youth Choir, composed of 79 choristers aged 11-18, featured 7 shows, one of which on the Youth Day Celebration (June 16, 2017) and another on the Masifunde Annual Freedom Day (April 27, 2017). The theatre group, composed of 34 students (11-18 years), presented 7 pièce playing out social issues such as gender violence (Infect the Township), the traffic of human beings in the township of Walmer (Bhuti is the Beast), the power of dreams (Themba’s Dream) and the sexual identity and homosexuality in the Xhosa culture (She is). 31 participants in the art class organized the exhibition “Faces of Walmer” at the ARTEC Gallery, to present their works made with clay, paint, pastel, charcoal, painting wall and watercolours. Additionally, the Life Skills Manual was published in collaboration with two local partners: Butterfly Art Project and United Through Sport. Finally, on September 1st, 2017, the Masifunde Changemaker Academy (MCA) was successfully inaugurated, thus becoming the place for the artistic activities offered by the Academy of Creativity Project.
IMBEWU

The Neuchâtel NGO was born in 2011 and specializes in the psycho-social development of youth through sports. Academy of Creativity was the first Imbewu project connected with art, and the third since it began operations.

Website

http://www.imbewu.org/index.php/en/nosprojets-en/projet-arts-en/academy-of-creativity-en