Youth express their creativity at the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival
In keeping the memory of the youth of 1976 alive, Constitutional Hill hosted the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival.
Constitutional Hill was the place to be as the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival brought the province’s creative community together.
The festival took place from June 21–24. The festival was founded in 2012 to immortalise the memory of the youth who fought for their right to choose in the Soweto 1976 Uprising, affording the youth of today the freedom to explore their creativity and freedom of expression.
This creative festival offered a jam-packed line-up of creative immersions and experiences for its 2023 edition.
About Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival
The Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival is ConHill’s signature youth festival which has become very well-known over the past 10 years growing from an audience of 2000 in 2012 to just more than 7 000 in 2019. Basha Uhuru is a unique youth brand that has become a household name among young people in Gauteng. While the name Basha Uhuru reinforces what the brand stands for, it further extends itself to borders beyond South Africa – as it uses Kiswahili and Setswana, thus building social cohesion and shared identity.
The festival has become one of Gauteng’s biggest youth arts events attracting thousands of youth from diverse cultural backgrounds to ConHill to commemorate Youth Month together in a safe and critically engaging environment. This flagship creative arts festival was established to provide a platform that would facilitate the broad spectrum of artistic expression for young emerging professionals and entrepreneurs in the creative industry. The festival is an opportunity to learn and be inspired, share skills and nurture talent, network and collaborate, and create and monetise while driving important conversations affecting the creative sector.
The festival is one of two event properties owned, registered and trademarked by Constitution Hill (and by implication – the Gauteng Province) aimed at driving visitation to the province. Now in its 11th year, Basha Uhuru came back in Youth Month and went beyond a once-off yearly event and became an ‘always on’ programme integrating into the greater creative uprising programme.
Creative Week Conference: June 21–23
The Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival Creative Week is an all-encompassing creative showcase, an opportunity for creatives and aspiring creatives to come together, be inspired, showcase their talents and feed their creativity.
Each day had a particular creative focus offering masterclasses, panel discussions, workshops and dialogues. Kirsty Niehaus, Nando’s marketing manager: creativity portfolio said, “At Nando’s, we believe that creativity changes lives, which is why we’re passionate about nurturing and showcasing creative talent and creating market access for young artists, designers and musicians, as well as democratising creativity by opening it up to more people.”
Niehaus said they’d be showcasing some of their homegrown emerging talent – the Nandoca Uhuru – on the market stage.
Sounds of Freedom Music Festival: June 24 June
The festival culminated on June 24 with the Sounds of Freedom Music Festival. Curated to provide space for up-and-coming artists and new talent, the music festival this year was headlined by local megastars.
This year’s festival brought local stars such as DJ Zinhle; Kwesta; Samthing Soweto; Shekhinah and many others to the stage with a guest performance from this year’s Basha Uhuru Music Legacy Award winner, Thebe.
Constitution Hill CEO Dawn Robertson said, “Over the years, Basha Uhuru gave birth to The Creative Uprising – an always-on programme, including the Creative Hub that opened in 2020. Focused on development, collaboration and upskilling creatives, the work of the hub will help to grow and support the creative economy in Gauteng.”
Brand manager for Sol Beer Warrick Wyngaard said they were proud to partner with Basha Uhuru and the team on this incredible project that not only supported youth development through multiple channels but held their commitment to local creativity.
The Creative Uprising
It’s a youth movement synonymous with a creative, open-minded, and often non-conforming and unconventional community, placing the institution at the epicentre of urban culture inspired by music, art and urban culture.
The Creative Uprising, an ongoing programme designed to support creatives was launched in 2020. Creatives, makers, artisans, craftspeople, illustrators, entertainers, artists and digital designers were issued a call to action to join the movement and become members of the programme.
Membership provides access to studio spaces, business support, education, market access, networking and various platforms for expression. Elements of the programme such as seminars, masterclasses, dialogues, and capacity-building programmes take place throughout the year.
The festival targets creative enrichment and development, rather than commercial outcomes. The organisers leverage funds for the maximum possible impact rather than profit.
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