Joburg’s performing arts students eye the big stage

01 August 2016

 

Jubilation and ululations were the order of the day at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre when 43 students were awarded certificates of competency after successfully completing the second year of the three-year Applied Performing Arts and Arts Management course at the weekend.

 

Some of them could not contain their excitement and had to be reminded that this was just the beginning as there was still more work ahead of them.

The three-year course – run by Joburg City Theatres in partnership with Drama for Life, Wits University and the Expanded Public Works Programme – is aimed at young and aspirant performers, directors, writers, technicians and managers working in arts education and performing arts.

According to Nondumiso Sithole, Joburg City Theatres Community Development Manager, the objective of the course is to inspire the youth, especially school leavers, to go out and engage in the field of arts education, community-based theatre and applied performing arts with confidence and real sense of being able to make a difference in the social transformation of the country.

Sithole said the course was aimed at empowering students with knowledge to understand the critical role and responsibility of performing arts practitioners to engage in the fields of applied drama, arts education and production in a collective and sound management way that contributes to the social transformation of the country.

Mavuso Shabalala, a Joburg City Theatres board member, congratulated the students for their achievements. Shabalala urged them to change the mentality that arts was not a career because “one will remain poor for the rest of his or her life”. Shabalala told the graduates that transformation was about making fundamental changes in the way they wrote their scripts, directed and performed and be able to move with technology.

“You need to adopt transformation in your work and make your career sustainable. If you become successful and your community does not benefit then it means arts and theatre have failed. You must tell your own stories. You need to share with the community and don’t stop learning to be successful,” he said.

Course facilitator Munyaradzi Chatikobo urged the graduates to maintain the same spirit and enthusiasm in the third and final year of the course. Chatikobo said in the past many prospective arts students were denied fulfilling their wishes and realising their dreams because of discriminatory laws. But now that the opportunities were there, they must grab them with both hands.
He said he hoped the students would all be fired up for the third year.

Zama Afrika Mkhize, a graduate of the previous course and now an entrepreneur, told the students they needed to go out to communities and create jobs.

“We need all of you to be role players in your communities. This is a step forward and it’s important not to undermine your own story,” she said.

Wendy Vuma, another graduate, said she was happy to be part of the course as it had changed her life.

“My life is now completely changed and I’m in the process of starting my ‘Body and Soul’ arts group,” she said.

Raymond Mlambo said he was very excited and motivated to do more and better than before.

“This course has opened my eyes because now I look at things and my surrounding differently,” he said.