The Phola based group, Top Shayela Production, was formed on May 27, 2008 by Boyce Masha. His aim was to empower and develop young people who are artistically inclined.
Many members of the group have showcased their talents and formed exchange partnership programmes on issues of youth, women, HIV/Aids and they have learned about each other’s background and learning a lot about the different communities of the country. The group presently has more than 30 artists in its books ranging from age eight to 18 years.
The group will hold Siyabangena Arts and Culture Youth Festival 2015. They will also be celebrating their seventh anniversary during the festival. They are inviting groups from all the different provinces.
The festival will start on June 29 until July 4. The groups will be competing in gospel, choral, drama, poetry, traditional music, traditional dance, Kofifi dance, gumboots dance, panstula, and kwasa-kwasa.
The vision of the group is to develop the creative industry as an economic investment, to reduce alcohol and drug abuse among young people, to educate the community about social ills through performing arts and to instill a sense of believe and self confidence in young people.
The mission of the group is to entertain children and to give love while showing appreciation to all the children in the community. They use art as a tool to teach and educate the community about social ills and to keep children off streets during school holidays and after school, and to link young talented artists with stakeholders.
“We have participated in different competition around the country. In 2013 we participated in Emalahleni Dance Festival in Kofifi and in traditional music. We also attended competitions in Middelburg and Duduza last year. A competition held in Soweto at Umdeni was also attended by the group in December,” said Masha.
The group has also appeared on television and national newspapers during the opening of Vlakfontein Mine, which was attended by the state president.
The group is busy with preparations for the youth festival.
“Our group is faced with many challenges, one of which is that most of the children are school going pupils and depend on their parents. We thank the companies and individuals who have supported us in the past and we are looking forward to maintaining the relationship. The children learn a lot of things in the group. They learn respect, discipline and teamwork. We want to put Phola on the map,” added Masha.
The festival will be held at Phola Community Hall.
The deadline for registration is June 17, for more information about registration and other issues please call Masha at 071 820 8952 or Mpumi 072 820 8952.
