Professor Mark Fleishman (Department of Drama) and a group of 42 facilitators, are bringing smiles and excitement to the small Cedeberg town of Clanwilliam. The annual Clanwilliam Arts Project takes place from 31 August to 6 September and has attracted 700 school children from the local area this year. 

This is a successful social responsiveness project conceptualised by Professor Pippa Skoteness (Michealis School of Fine Art), Peter and Barbara Fairhead (Fairheads Trust Company) and Professor John Parkington (Department of Archaeology) in the early 1990s as an initiative aimed at inspiring creativity and imagination among youth in disadvantaged communities. In 2001, Professor Fleishman was invited to introduce performance into the event. Now in its fifteenth cycle (in its current form), it has become a fully multi-disciplinary programme involving the UCT department of Drama, the Michaelis School of Fine Art, the South African College of Music and the School of Dance. In addition, Cape Town’s Magnet Theatre and other independent arts practitioners join the project each year. It is sustainable thanks to the ongoing commitment of staff and students who become the facilitators as well as the generous sponsorship received over the years from the Fairheads Trust, Rooibos, the Cederberg Municipality, Business and Arts South Africa and other corporate entities.

The group of facilitators is comprised of UCT students, alumni and staff members as well as volunteers. The project is open to all school children in the area ranging from primary school learners to young adults and art workshops involve storytelling, shadow puppetry, dance, arts and crafts, music and even stilt-walking. The programme culminates in a student performance of a /Xam narrative (selected from the Bleek and LLoyd collection) and a visually exciting lantern procession. Both are highly anticipated highlights  in the community calendar and are attended by an audience of family and community members exceeding 3000.

According to Professor Fleishman, the project is one of the longest running and most successful community arts initiatives in the Western Cape. “Over the years we have seen young participants grow into facilitators able to run aspects of the project on their own and even to run smaller projects in surrounding towns following the blueprint set up in Clanwilliam. The project has been showcased at an international exhibition in London dealing with indigenous performance from around the world”, says Fleishman.

In 2007, both Professors Fleishman and Skotnes received UCT's distinguished Alan Pifer Award for their work on the Clanwilliam project. This award is made to researchers in the university whose work contributes to the advancement of disadvantaged South Africans.