Art, dance and music at Human Rights Festival

THE Centre for Creative Arts at Durban’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, in partnership with the uMngeni Municipality and Urgent! Tourism, will present the second annual Artfluence Human Rights Festival from May 3 until May 8.

“We are delighted that with the end of the national lockdowns, we can present a hybrid festival this year with both online and live events; the latter made possible through a partnership with the uMngeni Municipality and uMngeni Tourism,” said Ismail Mahomed, the director for the Centre for Creative Arts.

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“The six-day event will feature theatre, dance, music, exhibitions, film and a specially curated animation series of some of Nelson Mandela’s favourite folktales aimed at children,” he said.

Under the theme Freed Imagination: Resilience, Action and Change, the festival profiles and spotlights artists whose voices and creativity advance a culture of human rights.

“The festival marks the 60th year of the capture of Nelson Mandela and will therefore highlight the Capture Site in uMngeni and boost opportunities for cultural tourism in the region. Additionally, to the Live in uMmngeni event programme at the Capture Site, the festival presents an extensive programme of online events broadcast on YouTube and Facebook, and the audience can join on Zoom,” said Mahomed.

Mahomed said the six day programme will take place at the Nelson Mandela Capture Site to commemorate the 60th anniversary of when Nelson Mandela has captured on the roadside a short distance from Howick.

“The festival located at the Capture Site intends to draw inspiration from Mandela’s legacy and rekindle tourism to the site after the devastating impact of the national lockdown on the cultural economy. Our partnership with the uMngeni Municipality and uMngeni Tourism aims to strengthen a cultural economy that enables local art organisations to thrive,” said Mahomed.

The director said the festival will open on May 3 with an online opening at 15:00 filmed from the capture site and will feature this year’s keynote speaker Chester Missing who will provide entertaining but biting commentary about South Africa’s democracy.

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“Live in Umngeni will open with the Umongo Msindo exhibition, an immersive installation that brings musicians into conversations with their traditional African instruments through videos and textiles that function as interactive wall pieces and a QR portal that expands on their work. This installation will exhibit at the Capture Site until 8 May. South African political cartoonist Nanda Soobben will exhibit 25 of his cartoons that are a powerful commentary on South Africa’s constitutional democracy. Satirist Conrad Koch will also bring his alter-ego Chester Missing to the Capture site. The Centre for Jazz at UKZN will present a concert featuring some of its most talented students. The Flatfoot Dance Company will present their latest production, The Cleansing, which journeys into the heartland of earth issues and negotiates the true meaning of ecology – the connectedness of human existence to all existence,” said the director.

Bookings can be made through Webtickets from Thursday, April 28.

For enquiries: email cca@ukzn.ac.za or find us on social media: @artfluencefest.

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