Imbadu's food fundraiser

IMBADU

an Eastern Cape Art Spark In collaboration with Afrikaburn

Location: Steynburg Eastern Cape

Dates: 2 May – 9 May 2021

“If our creativity is awakened, we become conscious of our individual and collective capacity to have effect in the world. We realize we each have the power to work towards a more promising future, and that we can actively contribute to the support and building of our communities and realize our full potential. “ Angela Mac Pherson

Igniting the creative spirit and building the confidence for self-expression in Eastern Cape communities is the key drive of the Imbadu project.

The project seeks to celebrate local story tellers, musicians and artists and tap into the existing creativity in the vicinity of Steynburg, while unlocking the creative power of the local community.

The Imbadu project has been initiated by Steynsburg born artist, poet, musician

Monwabisi Dasi, working with artists from Cape Town, King Williams Town, Port Elizabeth and engaging a group of local Steynsburg youth.

The visiting artists will facilitate workshops for local youth in

-      Theatre                     with Naledi Tlailane

-      Visual Arts                 with Angela Mac Pherson

-      Carpentry                  with Byron Boshoff

-      Food gardening         with Thulani Qawula

-      Dance                   with Zolani Dasi

5 days of workshops will culminate in a showcase event: A Village festival exhibiting the work done during the workshops and showcasing existing local talent as well as professional musicians Umle Sounds from PE aka Gqeberha.

The project was very fortunate to receive (only) 44% of the requested funding from the National Arts Council as part of an AfrikaBurn project funded by the Presidential Employment Stimulus Program, that is supporting the concept development of three art projects based in different corners (and provinces) of the Karoo

These funds have allowed us to activate a smaller version of the Imbadu project, and to run a week of creative workshops culminating in a small gathering and performance event.­

However,

We do not have funding to feed participants.

Steynsburg is an extremely economically challenged town, and many of the people who will be engaging in the Imbadu workshops, do not have sufficient food to eat on a daily basis.

It is hard to learn and be engaged when we are hungry and we would really love to be able to provide a simple meal for participants during the week of the workshops and event.

We are humbly requesting contributions towards the feeding of our participants for the course of the week.

At R20 per person per day, will need to raise R12 000 to comfortably fill the basic human need of a simple good meal a day for our participants at least for the time they are engaged in the workshops.

The establishing of food gardens, networking local growers with larger grower initiatives and helping with seed and knowledge is intended to speak to this issue on the long term.

With little chance of education or sustainable employment in the area, it is vital for the community of Steynsburg to access their creativity, gain skills and experience and find innovative ways to make a contribution and a living in the world.

Initially this project is aimed at engaging the residents of Steynsburg and its immediate surrounding communities, with the future intention of building up an annual Village scale Arts Festival across the Eastern Cape, sparking creativity and connectivity across the province.

This collaboration will establish new networks of knowledge and resources and facilitate creative cross pollination and learning, between rural and urban centers.

The workshops, the building of a stage area and performances by both guests and locals will be filmed and shared online, broadening the audience and reach of the project.

We plan to leave behind seed & network support for local food growers, a platform, stage area as the gathering place for future performance use and beautiful murals to bring colour and joy to the town of Steynsburg.