Take a Child to Art is a new fundraising project that addresses the need to bring young people into the experience of arts and culture, instead of merely relegating it to a text book or blackboard. Take a Child to Art was conceived around the forthcoming Infecting the City (21 -27 February 2009) performing arts festival; by encouraging individual or corporate sponsors to become part of the development of the arts. Infecting the City was formerly known as The Spier Performing Arts Festival and is now located in venues and public spaces throughout the Cape Town CBD.
The young people who will benefit from this experience are groups of pupils from Arts & Culture focused schools in the Cape Peninsula who are already interested in the creative world.
Take a Child to Art offers sponsorship platforms across two categories. Corporate sponsors are invited to sponsor a day of Infecting the City. This will ensure that up to 50 learners participate in a full day at the festival. Confirmed sponsors who have a day named after them currently include, Spier and The Cape Town Partnership and Old Mutual. “Old Mutual wanted to be part of a project that breathes life into performance art and brings cutting-edge contemporary art within reach of learners who show an interest in arts and culture. Take a Child to Art provided Old Mutual with the opportunity to play a role in making South African communities better spaces and investing in our youth to be inspired to make a difference in the future of our country,” says Market Development Manager, Rosie Wilson
The festival wishes to increase the number of learners on the organised tours by inviting the public to participate in the fundraising. Any member of the public (or groups of friends, colleagues or families) can donate upwards of R 500 to ensure the place of another child in the group of learners attending the day. Infecting the City wishes to bring in ten more children per day to allow another five school groups to benefit from this opportunity.
The sponsored groups of learners will have the opportunity to become part of a walking tour of the programme of Infecting the City. Funds raised through the Take a Child to Art programme will be used to bus the groups of learners in, give them lunch on the day and provide for both a trained cultural tour guide and an arts education workshop facilitator who will summarise the day’s experiences with the learners through a workshop session. The young people attending the festival day will be encouraged to use sponsored disposable cameras to capture the things they see and are struck by throughout the day. Afterwards, a collection of these images and thoughts will be housed on the Infecting the City website www.infectingthecity.com.
Take a Child to Art was conceived by The Africa Centre, an organisation which promotes the arts. Says Africa Centre Executive Director, Mike van Graan, “The majority of school learners have very little opportunity to see exciting, challenging performances, or come into contact with cutting-edge contemporary art works. It is essential that young people be stimulated, inspired and educated to get a sense of the complex relationships between history, society, architecture and the arts”
Interested parties and would-be sponsors should contact Caroline at The Africa Centre on 021 422 0468.
