Keleketla! Library is implementing an exciting 2-year project funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) with the support of the Joubert Park Project and the Curriculum Development Project Trust. The project engages with the South African Treason Trials that started at the Drill Hall in December 1956.
Drill Hall Arts, Culture & Heritage Programme
The Drill Hall is a public laboratory where history becomes a part of lived experience. It is a platform for creative, critical and cross-cultural exchanges and encounters. Its accessibility makes it a key point of presentation, engagement and articulation of inner city culture. A space to nurture diverse audiences.
The core programming mix integrates heritage, after school programme, community arts engagement and internships.
HERITAGE
Our programmes make the complex history of the site accessible to a range of audiences through semi-permanent installations on the site, the street, through tours, exhibitions, publications and presentations, talks and screenings that engage with different themes or moments of the site’s history and their implications for Johannesburg today.
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMME
Through tours and publications that bring alive the heritage of the site, engage with learners; through programming that allows students to engage with the contemporary art dimension of the site; through projects with youth from inner city schools in the immediate vicinity that supplement students’ arts and culture classes; ultimately exploring curriculum development initiatives where artists work with youth and teachers towards improved arts and culture education in schools.
Between September and December 2010, youth participated in the following:
- A play exploring the Sophiatown forced removals – facilitator, Refiloe ‘Fifi’ Motau
- A musical on the 1957 Alexandra bus boycott – facilitator, L8 Antique (band)
- Writing workshops looking at the Drill Hall then and now – facilitator, Maia Marie
- Comic exploring the Drill Hall and the inner city – facilitator, Sebastian Borckenhagen
The projects are part of a work in progress led by Malose Malahlela and Richard Roodt. Watch this space for updates on the progress this year.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Through projects aimed specifically at enabling access to and participation/contribution in the arts on the part of local residents; support and opportunities for young artists and artisans in the area and beyond; training and skills development through work opportunities as well as internships, volunteer programmes and educational/creative workshops.
We will be opening applications for a range of paid internships, pro bono and volunteer programmes in the coming week.
ART EXHIBITIONS, EVENTS, HAPPENINGS
Collaborative, multi-media projects with local, national and international artists, cultural practitioners and activists, with an interest in inner city development and urban/social issues and the role of culture; regular happenings including presentations, talks and screenings that bring together different perspectives, debates and experiences; audience building; a critical documentation of the contemporary African metropolis and urban policies/technologies.
WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST FOR 2011 AND WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK:
All the bright and brilliant youth in our programme and their families
The NLDTF, The Curriculum Development Project, Mayibuye Archives, Refiloe ‘Fifi’ Motau, Kenneth ‘Khami’ Moyo, Maia Marie, Karabo Randa, Keneilwe Masoetsa, Nonkululeko Mlangeni, Lehlohonolo Dhlamini, Mambila Mageza and Keleketla! friends and affiliates.
Below is a slideshow from the closing exhibition/performance/party for youth and parents held on 14 December 2010!
Photographs by: Rasmus Holm, Malose Malahlela, Richard Roodt and Jabulani Tshuma
2011 KICK-OFF
We welcome Kevin Clancy, from Boston, USA who is implementing an exciting project titled Portable Utopia until his departure on 24 February. Portable Utopia is a mobile resource library and expandable social space initiated by Kevin Clancy in partnership with Keleketla! Library. The mobile unit will contain a library of books, a computer, flat files for prints and works on paper, a micromuseum, a collapsible stage for lectures and performances, and an inflatable geodesic dome gathering space.
Look out for a meet and greet session later this week.
Keleketla Media Arts Project 