This Mandela Month, the Windybrow Arts Centre is giving emerging artists opportunities to connect with the audience.
The national lockdown restrictions which prohibit social gathering has led to theatre centres halting productions and shutting their doors indefinitely, leaving many performing artists and production crew out in the cold, with no income.
In response to these challenges, the Windybrow Arts Centre, situated in the heart of Hillbrow, has come up with innovative ways of not only creating work and offering an opportunity for artists to practice their craft – but also to connect with its immediate environment and the people who live within its vicinity by using digital platforms.
The centre has taken one of its most innovative projects, which initially was meant to be a project attended by live audiences physically, both from within the local community as well as from afar, to the digital space.
This programme is taking place for the first time this month and will become an annual showcase of a feast of artistic genres, ranging from music performances, visual art, dance, poetry to theatre.
The programme called “Art Emerge - N - See” is aimed particularly at new talent yearning and hungry for a platform that would give them exposure and earn some income at the same time.
The participation of the artists selected for this programme was through a call that was sent out in June 2021, in which those interested were invited to submit videos of their presentations.
The call was targeted at poets, actors, dancers, solo musicians, and visual artists, and the response has been good.
The selected works will be streamed online via Windybrow’s Facebook page, going every Thursday till August 5.
Audiences are invited to engage with the works and artists online.