Shukuma Mzansi International Community Arts Centres Conference 2017

The National Department of Arts and Culture has partnered with the Sibikwa Arts Centre to realise a sectoral dialogue between Irish, Flemish, French and South African community arts centres with the purpose of increasing institutional capacity, policy implementation and best practice.  This initiative is funded by the SA-EU Strategic Partnership – the Dialogue Facility which contributes to the strengthening of relations between the European Union and South Africa and encourages cooperation between equal partners in a number of areas in the economic, social and cultural fields.

The Shukuma Mzansi Conference, will enable the South African community arts centres to share their experiences on capacity building, programming, innovative sourcing of funding and policy implementation with their European counterparts and vice versa.

Simultaneously, the conference is a means to reflect on the state of the South African community arts centres and their contribution to the 2030 Development Plan in terms of skills development for the youth, economic growth, job creation and rural development.  Moreover it presents a platform to discuss implementation and flesh out the recommendations made by the draft White Paper. It is a benchmark occasion for practitioners, policy-makers, donors, officials, academics and other key stakeholders to interact and engage with the critical challenges and innovative solutions that are part of the process of growing the outputs and efficacy of the community arts centres across the country.

The international conference will take place from 22 to 24 March 2017 at Sibikwa Arts Centre in Benoni Ekurhuleni Metro.

The Shukuma Mzansi! Conference has firm potential to yield a network of optimally-functioning and policy-driven Community Arts Centres that have the capacity for sustainable delivery of appropriate services and programmes, and to also put South African Community Arts Centre on a global map.