Know your Artist of the Nelson Mandela Bay Programme The Mandela Bay Development Agency is embarking on a four weeks programme to promote the artists of the City and to bring audience to the iconic Athenaeum ‘Grand Lady’ of Arts and Culture of Nelson Mandela Bay in a “know your artists programme” that will start from the 24th of June until 31 July 2013. programme coincides with the Arts Journey’s Nelson Mandela Bay Fringe programme of the National Arts Festival 2013. This year’s performing arts line up which is organized by The Swallows Foundation (SA) / Isiseko Senkonjane includes performances by Thabisa Ntseoane from ‘I want to sing Gospel’, Naledi, Shoelace Rockers Soul, Tivi, Abantu, Lujaman, J-Bux, and also features Pantsula Dance Crew-Phashash, and a contemporary dance performance by UK Dancers (Duka Dance). Lelethu PoeticSoul Mahambehlala will be hosting poetry sessions. Magenge Theatre, who won the Zwakala Festival, will perform their first production ‘Where the heart is’ and many more performances from Local artists. As part of this month long programme there is also a high end fashion and craft week program to be presented by SilverSpoon Clothing termed “the Nelson Mandela Bay, City of Diversity, the City of change”. Stephanie Beyers of SilverSpoon who came up with this idea says with this event they would like to create an event that brings together fashion, on a national scale, and local Port Elizabeth based crafters. She says the vision is to create a network of people, sharing ideas, techniques and business advice in order to promote the fashion industry and its subcategories in our Nelson Mandela Bay. The fashion program runs for a week from July 22 and ends on July 27 with a Cocktail Party evening. Stephanie says this eventwill be the biggest fashion event Port Elizabeth has ever hosted. It could open up and give rise to the revival o the industry in our diverse, colourful city and province. The guest list will include local PE VIP’s, national buyers, and media and industry leaders. Mandela Bay Heritage Trust (MBHT) have come up with an idea of a Personal Heritage named “Wedding” which will see the public asked to provide their, or parents’ or grand parents’ wedding black and white photographs to be displayed at the Athenaeum. The MBHT says the idea is to portray hundreds of the photographs packed randomly on a wall to emphasize that our personal heritages and the potential for connections are a strong cohesive force in our fledgling democracy. During this period the Nelson Mandela Bay Creative Collective which is facilitated by PE Opera House and Swallows Foundation SA and the Mandela Bay Development Agency will host a Cultural Industries Symposium on the 26th of July at the Opera House. The symposium is a gathering of Arts and Cultural Practitioners from National, Provincial and local in Port Elizabeth to contribute to a development of the arts industry in the Eastern Cape in particular the Nelson Mandela Bay. The discussions during this symposium will be centred on the arts funding specifically for the Eastern Cape. The Department of Arts and Culture, National Arts Council, BASA, Arts and Culture Trust, the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund and the Arterial Network representatives will participate in discussion during this important gathering. The Swallows Foundation SA who are the main organizers of the four weeks programme have also invited keynote speakers to give lectures on different subjects during this period. Professor Jeff Peires will give presentation on the History of Port Elizabeth on June the 26th and NMMU Head of Arts and Culture Michael Barry will talk on the role of arts in society and the value it has and a Music Business presentation by Sakhele Mzalazala all happening at the Athenaeum. There will also be tours organized during this period of the Donkin Reserve’s Route 67, running parallel to the performances taking place at the Athenaeum.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:26:55 +0000