Community-based initiative for young people brought to local youngsters

Mlungisi Mluart Mlungwana, a Soweto-born photographer is a 29-year-old entrepreneur and businessman who has partnered with Barloworld Empowerment Foundation for a six months youth upliftment programme.

The initiative aims to empower young people based in Soweto and Alexandra who are talented and enthusiastic about photography and performing arts.

“This initiative is inspired by the programmes that I have been part of in life,” Mlungwana explained.

““When I got the opportunity of funding from the Barloworld Empowerment Foundation to create something for my community, me and my business partner, Palesa Kogela came up with the idea of reliving the story that changed my life.

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“That’s why we have the Mluart Academy where we teach photography and acting.”

Through the programme, Mluart Academy will get an opportunity to teach 10 local young people photography and performing arts.

The programme is inspired by the people of Soweto and is meant to deal with unemployment, especially amongst young people.

Five permanent staff members from the community were hired and all the catering and printing is done in Soweto which helps uplift the local economy and grow markets that are locally based.

“I would like for such an initiative to happen annually. We are a very practical class and so much knowledge has been invested in these young people hence I would want it to continue non-stop with the right funds and support from the community,” he explained.

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Mlungwana also mentioned that the challenging part about this programme is that the majority of the community members don’t understand that art can be a career and they sometimes have mixed reactions toward it.

Khaya Dumakude who studied film at The African Academy of Cinematic Arts (AACA) is one of the ten students that are part of the Mluart community initiative. He explained how special it is for them to be the first group enrolled in the programme.

“With the change that Mluart is trying to bring by incorporating the community into this project, it means that we have an opportunity to impact lives.

“It also has a positive impact in our own lives because the better we do for ourselves, the better we become for everyone else,” Dumakude said.

During the session, students that are part of this programme are taught how to position themselves in front of a camera and how to write scripts for performing arts.

They are also preparing themselves for the upcoming exhibition that will be hosted to showcase everything they are learning on the programme.

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Refiloe Mogoje, a facilitator for the programme explained how this initiative gives her so much joy because things like this never happen in local communities but they are always in the north and fancy studios for with people who can afford them.

“I think this is a great opportunity for people to tap out of their personal spaces and be surrounded by other people and create healing stories through performing arts,” Mogoje concluded.