The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) focuses on skills development and providing work opportunities. It is one of the important ways the Western Cape Government is working to reduce the levels of poverty and unemployment in the province through giving unemployed people access to temporary work; helping unemployed people through skills programmes and work experience; […]

We change young lives in urban townships with The Culture Gangs. The Culture Gangs program is a support programme for existent drama groups in Cape Town. There are hundreds of school-going and unemployed youth in the townships who are drawn to the theatre as a way of expressing and dealing with the harsh realities of their lives. The Culture Gangs […]

Magnet Theatre has created a small group of highly talented youth committed to theatre and upfting their communities.  As we could only accept 21 trainees into the Full time Training and Job Creation programme in February 2020, and could not accommodate these shining stars, we decided to offer a small group of ‘Magnet Associates’ a […]

Since 2014, Magnet Theatre has engaged in developing new exciting age appropriate African theatre for under seven year olds.  Thanks to input from Roberto Frabetti  (La Barracca, Bologna, Italy) within the context of the Full Time Training and Job Creation programme Magnet Theatre was able to develop the award winning TREE/BOOM/UMTHI which has subsequently had […]

The communities along the N7 are historically some of the most un-serviced, under-resourced and isolated in the region. Magnet Theatre has been working in the area for the past 15 years running the Clanwilliam Arts Project with the support  of, up until 2012, Fairheads Financial Services. The project is a week-long arts residency with now  […]

The Clanwilliam Arts Project includes archeology, education, art and drama and is aimed at returning the heritage of the Clanwilliam area to the community. “The parade begins at dusk. The local band leads the children, carrying figures and puppets and candle powered lanterns, wearing masks and helmets through the township. As it darkens and the […]

Magnet participated in the Common Plants research project in 2006, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project, initiated by Judith Rudakoff of York University in Toronto, linked artists and school learners in Iqaluit in Arctic Canada with their peers in Cape Town, South Africa. These linkages occurred through workshops […]

Jennie Reznek and Mandla Mbothwe ran the annual Directors Workshops for Artscape from the beginning of April through to the end of June each year. These workshops provided much needed support for Arts and Culture teachers in the Western Cape. The skills acquired in the course also facilitated their participation in the Artscape Schools Festival […]

The Community Groups Intervention was an educational outreach project that operated in Khayelitsha from 2002 – 2008. The project mentored already existing drama groups from that community, with the following objectives: To develop performance skills and playmaking in a range of theatrical styles in order to improve and develop product To develop leadership and management […]