Heritage Day at The Mix
SOPHIATOWN – "We wanted to keep off this festival as a way of inviting Joburg into the suburb and to make the archive visible and get a piece of the community's rich history," said Yavini Naidoo.
The Sophiatown Arts Festival team hosted an event at the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre recently where everyone was welcome to partake in different activities throughout the day.
Activities included a walking tour through Sophiatown, dance lessons, a pop-up exhibition, a discussion around filmmaking, music, fun for kids in the crafts corner and food stalls. Yavini Naidoo one of the organisers said, “We have been doing research on the community for about eight years now about building a community space, a platform for arts and culture in the suburbs and to make the archive for the community.”
The programme for the day began at 1pm with attendees wearing their traditional attire. The walking tour was popular among residents and visitors as they learned about the vibrant suburb and saw important landmarks. Food stalls were available with variety of African dishes and attendees got to walk through the Trevor Huddleston Memorial gallery where pictures and memorabilia from apartheid days are showcased.
“The centre has been open for about 10 years but our events started a year ago, every once a month for the past year we have a pop-up. In the past we’ve had movie nights in the park, a long table with Congolese dishes in the park and other various community engaging activities. For today we planned around awareness of the centre, of course showcasing local talent and build the youth culture.
“Part of events like these is to grow the local economy, there is people selling; different crafts, food and artworks” explained Naidoo.
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