Projects

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 program exposes these young people to notions of creative thinking and play that will serve them in all aspects of their lives. It creates gangs of youth who are committed to culture and not to crime.

Magnet Theatre works with drama groups and school going learners  running monthly skills workshops,  theatre visits, holiday programmes, providing career guidance and assistance with identifying and applying for further education opportunities and ends the year with a community showcase at Magnet Theatre attended by family, community members and theatre practitioners. Magnet Theatre works with between 150 and 200 school going youth over the year and 200 people come and watch the annual showcase.

Different facilitators have led this project over the years. Please see below the list of Facilitators and participating groups from 2011 to the present:

2011 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Noluvuyo Sam

Ikamva Lethu Arts Movement (Gugulethu), Zusakhe Youth Group (Dunoon), Sibambene Youth Organisation (Dunoon), Black ink Arts Movement ( Dunoon)

2012 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zwelakhe Khuse

Black ink Arts Movement (Dunoon),Zusakhe Youth Group (Dunoon), Rainbow Arts Organisation (Delft South), Phakamani (Phillipi), Embo Nangoku (Phillipi), Sophumelela Art Group (Delft)

2013 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zwelakhe Khuse

Black ink Arts Movement (Dunoon), Embo Nangoku (Phillipi), Phakamani (Phillipi), One Heart (Samora), Ingcambu Theatre (Phillipi), Ithemba Labantu (Phillipi), Rainbow Arts Organisation (Delft South)

2014 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zwelakhe Khuse

Africa Jam (Makhaya), Bardale Secondary School (Bardale Mfuleni), Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha), Isihluzo (Nyanga), Project Playground (Gugulethu), Zusakhe Youth Group (Dunoon), AMY BIEHIL (Phillipi)

2015 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zwelakhe Khuse

Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha), Ithemba Labantu (Phillipi)

iKamva  Youth Club (Joe Slovo), Site C After-Care (Site C), Thembelihle (Site C), Movers with Attitude (Nyanga), Ikamva Lethu Arts Movement (Gugulethu), Project Playground (Gugulethu), Isihluzo (Nyanga)

2016 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Maggi Fernando & Yonela Sithela

Overcome Heights (Milnerton),  Sbelius High School (Retreat), Vrygrond (Vrygrond),Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha), Rainbow Arts Organisation (Delft South), Ithemba Labantu (Phillipi)

2017 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zukisani Nongogo & Yonela Sithela

UPhawu Youth Development (Philippi), Intsika Yakwa Xhosa (Du-Noon), Black Star, Project Playground, Lesedi Youth Group, Chris Hani High School, Zolani Center , Thandolwethu, Makukhanye Arts Room, Blackbox      

2018 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zukisani Nongogo & Yonela Sithela

Lesedi Arts Youth Group (Vrygrond), Vula Youth Development (Nyanga), Amabuto Theatre Company (Langa), UPhawu Youth Development (Philippi), Intsika Yakwa Xhosa (Du-Noon),

Project Playground (Gugulethu), Black Star (Samora), Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha)

2019 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator: Zukisani Nongogo & Yonela Sithela

Project Playground (Gugulethu), Intsika Yakwa Xhosa (Du-Noon), Black Stars (Samora), Amabuto Theatre Company (Langa), Limestone Entertainment (Du-Noon), Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha)

2020- Facilitator/Co-ordinator : Zukisani Nongogo & Yonela Sithela

Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha), Blackstars  (Samora), Intsika Yakwa Xhosa (Du-Noon)

2021- Facilitator/Co-ordinator Zukisani Nongogo & Yonela Sithela

Project Playground (Gugulethu), Lesedi Arts Youth Group (Vrygrond), Blackstars  (Samora), Gugulethu United We Stand (Gugulethu), Philippi Art Center (Philippi)

2022- Facilitator/Co-ordinator : Asamkela Ketelo & Yonela Sithela

Project Playground (Gugulethu), Vrygrond Ingcungela Players (Capricorn), Ayeye Entertainment (Philipi), Blackstars  (Samora), Ikrele Le Joy (Khayelitsha), Gugulethu United We Stand (Gugulethu)

2023 – Facilitator/Co-ordinator : Asamkela Ketelo & Smamkele Mentyisi

Amabutho (Gugulethu), Phefumla Queer Collective (Observatory), #Emthonjeni (Phillipi), Black Stars (Phillipi), Ikrele Le Joy (Khayelitsha)

2024 – present Facilitator/Co-ordinator : Asamkela Ketelo & Smamkele Mentyisi

Black Stars (Phillipi), Young Roses of Talent (Mfuleni), Uphawu Community Arts (Samora Machel), Iqhayiya lebhongo Arts (Langa), Chris Hani Arts & Culture High School (Khayelitsha)

PERFORMING COMMUNITY MEMORY

Performing Community Memory

The Performing Community Memory is a project that aims to excavate and remember the forgotten/hidden history of Cape Town’s communities through performance. In this way the project’s method of preserving memory is similar to other modes of memory/ heritage preservation such as the creation of monuments, murals and naming of infrastructure such as roads and buildings to commemorate historical figures and events. The project’s method is also different in that its remembering is active within a moment/ event.

The project falls under the Culture Gangs programme whenever possible. In the CG for 6 weeks performers and theatre- makers from Magnet Theatre’s training programme attend weekly workshops run by Magnet artistic director, Mandla Mbothwe and Culture Gangs facilitators, Yonela Sithela and Zukisani Nongogo. In 2018 the programme  focused on the life of DR. Philip Kgosana and involved:

• Introducing the trainees to what the project is and taking them through an outline of how the research on the subject matter will happen.
• Visits to the community in which the historical event happened and/or where historical figure(s) is from. The trainees then interact with the community members, conducting interviews to ascertain how the historical event is remembered, who remembers or has knowledge of the historical event is remembered and how much is remembered.