Parks Recreation and Culture Celebration Week:
Durban Bay of Plenty lawns: Sat 29 Sept, noon until 8pm
The city’s Parks, Recreation & Culture Unit is hosting Freedom of the Mind – a day long free family event to be held at Bay of Plenty, Durban beachfront: next to the Skateboard area, on Saturday 29 September, to showcase the breadth of creative talent the city is nurturing in honour of Heritage month.
All of the city’s PRC units will be showcasing their projects during the course of the week. The Parks, Recreation & Culture Unit event will take place on the lawns from noon until 8pm on Saturday 29 September. The programme showcases emerging performing artists who are on the cusp of entering into the industry and have gone through the extensive training and skills development programme run by the department. The programme features the breadth of performing arts including cross-cultural examples of acoustic music; hip hop; jazz; comedy; traditional dance; drama; gospel and contemporary dance.
The intention of the cultural day is to showcase the artists which the Arts and Living Culture Dept have been mentoring with the intention of exposing them to external stakeholders, the public and potential employers, and for the performers and artists to gain experience and exposure. The Arts and Living Cultures Unit does not employ artists but facilitates arts development programmes such as poetry, dance, choral and traditional music, hip hop, jazz, theatre and comedy by offering workshops, seminars, exhibitions and live performance opportunities. More than 5000 people go through this programme every year.
“Parks, Recreation and Culture is focused on social cohesion,” explains Head of Parks, Recreation and Culture Unit, Thembinkosi Ngcobo “We want to encourage Durbanites to become exposed to our public spaces and to become more familiar with the city’s diverse cultures and creative activities, and to see some of the city’s top raw talent on stage for the first time,” said Ngcobo.
A stage will be erected on the Bay of Plenty lawns for the day. There will be back-to-back entertainment taking place to which the public is invited. Entry is free and all are welcome.
For more information, contact Phumelele Myeza from Parks, Recreation & Culture Unit on 031 311 2410 / 031 311 2427/8 / Phumelele.Myeza@durban.gov.za.
