Everyone is getting a little edgy about Creative Week Cape Town 2011, but in a good way. Some in anticipation (festivities start in a few days, on 9 September) and others because this year Creative Week has its own heart in a part of the city otherwise known as The Fringe. You know what they say about successful ventures? Location, location, location …
There’s cause enough for The Fringe to be the central hub of this annual celebration of local creativity and innovation – it has a similar ethos to Creative Week, to integrate, communicate, participate, decorate and instigate sustainable solutions for a city that serves all.
And while it’s evidently still in its development phase, The Fringe is more than an area in transition. It is a design and informatics hub that is driven by the people in its precinct. Its vision is to become “the premier African environment for design, media and ICT innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship”, and so it elected to be the home base of happiness and activity during Creative Week Cape Town 2011 (from 9 to 18 September).
These key Creative Week events are taking place in its buildings, basements and balconies (and even, in some instances, in its parking bays!):
Creative Cape Town Annual launch
2011 followed on from the success of a complex 2010 with various projects pushing the city and its citizens to claim the title of creative capital. From the World Design Capital bid to Creative Week Cape Town, this has been a big year. To celebrate, the Creative Cape Town Annual launches 13 September at The Bank from 17h30 and everyone is welcome.
(Open to all, no booking required)
A much loved monument is going to be saturated with sound as part of the City Hall , launching this Friday, 9 September. Marvel at the musical vernacular of Thandiswa Mazwai (of Bongo Maffin fame) will help the hall marvel at the musical vernacular of a woman who sings her own songs, let Kesivan and the Lights shed insight on the timelessness of jazz, and get a window on the world with international performers Ray Lema (DRC) and Chico Cesar (Brazil), who will take the stage together as part of their South African debut. (More about City Hall Sessions here
(Booking through Computicket highly advisable)
Meet the Makers
Meet the Makers gives you an inside glimpse of design studios across the specialist spectrum and across the city, from bespoke perfume consultations to the best creative and corporate graphic designers this side of the sun. These studios include:
- The Bank – a creative collective comprising Furnspace-3D, Aidan Bennetts Design, Edge Interiors (Stephen Lasker), FVE Interiors, Formula-D interactive, ELE Creative Studio and other independent freelance designers at 71 Harrington Street, next door to The Assembly. (More about The Bank.
- Cuie&Co for communication solutions that are approachable, immediate and friendly.
- g-mo shoes don’t tiptoe around the question of recycled textiles. Their designer sandals, boots and bits are famous at the Saturday Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill, and a much desired as a way to walk all over Cape Town in style. (More about g-mo)
- Vincent Urbain’s cutting-edge creations take bags, belts and even boxes to the next level. www.urbanafrica.co.za
- Greg Wright Architects are carving a niche in modern housing across the West Coast
- Design Infestation falls outside the boundaries of The Fringe, technically, but we’re including them because they’re the people who taught Creative Week to think outside the box! Their visual solutions scream success in every language you can think of, and there isn’t a part of Creative Cape Town’s look and feel that they haven’t touched in the last year at least
(Booking is essential)
Special mention: Music City
Not housed in The Fringe, but sharing all the aforementioned elements of collaboration, integration and entertainment, Music City, is a Cape music documentary film festival opening at the Labia on Orange on 10 September in partnership with Encounters Documentary Film Festival and the Cape Film Commission. It features a series of screenings of locally made films about locally inspired music, from The Black to Fokofpolisiekar, Mr Devious to Sathima’s Windsong, Afrikaaps to Casa del Musica. See how this city sounds.
(Booking recommended)
Other Fringe attractions during this Creative Week Cape Town 2011 include:
- Prettied up pot plants compliments of the CCID, The Fringe and artists, designers and students – who are all keen on keeping Harrington Street clean, clear and beautiful on international Park(ing) Day
- Mak1one’s hands-on tour of graffiti in The Fringe and its messages, Walking On Walls (Free tour but booking is essential)
- Learn about how your present was sculpted by time (and people and events) gone by with District Six insider Joe Schaffers on a walking Tour of District Six. (Booking is essential)
- Heath Nash and friends transforming an alleyway into a space with something to say
Remember to keep your eyes open for the boxes that signify an event is part of Creative Week
Creative Week – the heart of a Creative Cape Town
PS: Where IS The Fringe? Its boundaries run along Roeland and Darling streets, Buitenkant and Canterbury streets, and a strip of land connecting the area to CPUT from Longmarket through to Tennant Street, and borders onto the proposed District Six development.
