The Creative Cape Town Annual is a snapshot of creative and knowledge economy in Cape Town. The inaugural 2009 edition was published by Bell Roberts Publishing, who also bring out Art South Africa. The first edition looked at various aspects of the central city’s extensive creative and knowledge economy. It dipped into a range of sectors – film, urban design, publishing, fashion, performance, craft, music, architecture, advertising and cultural tourism – and gave a vibrant overview of these with a uniquely Cape Town flavour. The Creative Cape Town Annual 2009 included the work and voices of dozens of leading Cape Town creatives such as Ravi Naidoo (Design Indaba). A photographic fashion feature that drew on the talents of some of our top designers was shot by Guto Bussab of Muti Films . Local writers, performers and artists were captured in iconic Cape Town spaces wearing fashion conceptualised and created in the City. The 2009 Annual made an argument for a strong focus on design building on the strong design sector in the city. It argued that the infrastructure legacy of the World Cup provided opportunities for a new way of using the city. The East City Design Initiative and World Design Capital Bid are profiled as key initiatives for the future. Importantly the Annual makes a strong argument for building on the local distinctiveness of the city. In a section on the past; slavery, the minstrels carnival and inclusive memorialisation are examined. A stunning imaging of the ghosts of slavery in the modern city by the late Garth Stead, proposes directions for engaging creatively with difficult pasts.
The 2010 Annual is in production and will focus on Cape Town’s plans to bid for World Design Capital 2014. For those interested in sponsoring or advertising the annual which comes out in September 2010 you can download a rate card. 5000 copies are distributed free to The Loeries Awards delegates, creatives in the city centre, government and the media.
Print copies of the Annual are available from Creative Cape Town, but why not take a look at the digital version embedded below?
