The Faith Alive Festival, returned for its annual prestige gathering at the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani delivering on a world class musical experience over the weekend.
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The one day festival courtesy of Structuring Society through Music and Arts (SMM) marked the first event at the theatre, which saw more than nine acts in music and arts sharing one stage.
The line-up featured performances from a live band, orchestra, wind bands and ballet dances.
SMM founder, Sfiso Msiza said the festival was a continual commitment to extending the hand for young people who are passionate about music and arts.
“The festival as the name says is about instilling faith in these young people who are passionate about what they do but do not have the relevant platforms so we sought to create such a platform for all the young people.
“The festival is to support them to get the relevant networks for them to grow, while sharing it with our students who are up-coming and fast becoming great artists.”
Mzisa shared that the festival marked the 13 anniversary of the organisation working with developing young people in the music and arts.
The festival has become popularly known for its wide offering for breeding the next talent.
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Mzisa shared that the main goal is creating employment opportunities for young people through music and arts.
“The SSM music and arts was founded on the basis of how to develop the community and the youth using music and the arts and through our various programmes we are committed to using this to structure society and reach the youth predominantly from the township and marginalised communities, with opportunities to participate in classical instruments which is often inaccessible.”
Earlier in the week, they hosted the SSM Music and Arts Benefit Gala to raise funds to purchase musical instruments and financially support their projects.
To date, the organisation boasts three main centres – the SSM Music Centre, Arts Centre and the Plough back Centre where it carries out various programmes in music and arts. It has over 150 students who are trained in classical instruments under their music programme.
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The Soweto Theatre partnered with the SSM in 2017 to house the music tutorial programme under its wing as part of the youth and community development initiative undertaken by the theater.
Amanda Motshegwa, Youth Development Intern for the Theatre said they were overjoyed at the partnership between the two organisations in fostering structured opportunities for aspiring youth with passion for music and arts.
“Our partnership with SSM as part of the music programme under our theatre is to encourage and promote the creative arts in Soweto.
“The fact that SSM has a youth orchestra in Soweto is a great thing for us as a theatre to expose the creative side to our communities and provide know-how and resources for artistic development.
“We hope to bring more children and youth into these programmes,” she concluded.
