// A 4-day festival with a focus on arts, constitution and democracy ; 5-8May 2021 //
Wassup wassup fam. I hope you are well and keeping warm as we slowly approach the winter season. The inaugural Artfluence Human Rights Festival is already in progress, and I've enjoyed the online events I've been able to attend so far.
Voices of Hope, Courage and Resilience is the theme for the festival presented by the Centre for Creative Arts in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands. The Festival marks the 25th anniversary of the Centre for Creative Arts as a vibrantly creative enabler and advocate for social justice and democracy, as well as the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the South African Constitution.
The Artfluence Human Rights Festival aims to strengthen the link with the arts and civil society, active citizenship and politics through a series of arts events and arts-based webinars, featuring South African and international artists. by creating a dedicated virtual space to share, celebrate, remember, explore, provoke and promote how the arts contribute to a culture of human rights.
Artfluence Festival Curator Yusrah Bardien (left) ;
Director of the Centre for Creative Arts, Ismail Mahomed (right)
“Each day at the Festival will be catalysed by an arts event and will be supported by a moderated discussion with informed activists for human rights comprised of South African, a Dutch speaker and participants from other States on the African continent. We have invited artists and organisations whose artistic reputations are anchored on advocating for human rights to participate in the inaugural Artfluence Festival”, explained Yusrah Bardien.
“We want to strengthen the link with the arts and civil society, active citizenship and politics through a series of arts events and arts-based webinars, featuring South African and international artists by creating a dedicated virtual space to share, celebrate, remember, explore, provoke and promote how the arts contribute to a culture of human rights”, said Ismail Mahomed. It's fascinating and ironic how this festival literally started at the end of the sit in led by Sibongile Mngoma at the National Arts Council (NAC) offices in Joburg with Abahlali, which lasted just over 50 days. It only seemed fitting for such a significant platform to then honor Sibongile for her activism to defend and fight for artists’ rights. “Sibongile Mngoma represents the kind of leadership that is required to inspire a new generation of South Africans artists to rise and be today’s voices of hope, courage and resilience that will call for public accountability, good governance and transparency in public affairs”, said Ismail Mahomed, the Director for the Centre for Creative Arts.
I think my favorite session so far is "Taking down the patriarchy in comedy" which took place last night. I don't want to spoil it for you so I'll let you go ahead and watch it below. It was not only informative but also fun, and it's definitely worth your time. You can catch some of the events on Artfluence Facebook page as well as their daily announcements about their program , or check out their site to access the full program. They have some really informative and exciting events lined up for the remainder of the festival, as well as some cool competitions.
Click here / the image below to access the website and the full festival program.
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