Artscape Director Marlene Le Roux
All colleagues who did the different presentations
Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests
Thanks very much Fezeka High School for the music.
I think you will agree with me that physical interaction, including the arts, is one of the most powerful tools of communication.
In spite of the perception that the media is dominating the arena of communications, according to media analysts only about 44 out of a thousand people read newspapers. The majority of people get their information from direct interaction with other people in community meetings, and through social activities, and television.
I am a keen supporter of the visual arts, drama and song, and I have looked forward to joining you in this launch today.
Through this programme of yours, you can provide a fine example of what we can do to promote the visual arts in the FET sector, which complements what we also hope to achieve in FET in schools.
Our national curriculum statements for both General and Further Education and Training include Arts and Culture as mainstream learning areas. The arts involved include visual art, design, dramatic arts, dance and music.
Our national FET curriculum for schools includes a clear commitment to the visual arts, because they open up an exciting world of creative and personal exploration.
Not only are you encouraging and promoting art for arts sake, which is very important, but you are also encouraging students to carve out practical careers for themselves, as entrepreneurs, and as possible employees in our various fields in the industry.
Studies have shown that 41% of those who matriculated over the past three years are still looking for employment, and that only 1% of them is self-employed.
Clearly, our economy at this stage cannot accommodate about 40% of our young people who left school over the past three years. This means that we have a huge task ahead of us to ensure that many more young people are employable - and also to ensure that many more young people have the capacity to employ themselves.
I attended a presentation of one of your programmes last year, the Soundtrack 4 Life HIV/Aids Life Skills Project, and experienced the vibrancy and the energy being put into the show. The inter-active part encourages its audience to challenge some of their very own beliefs and prejudice.
The simple, but effective situations being portrayed of ordinary young men and women facing difficult challenges each and every day, tell very powerful and compelling stories - that life is an ongoing struggle of making the right choices all of the time.
The myriad of programmes, exhibitions, operas, music shows and productions that you will offer in the next few months, will showcase the true talents and energies of our youth, offering them hope in the face of depressing social conditions.
Whether it's ballet, choral choirs, opera, drama or the youth jazz classes, there is an opportunity for each and every one of our youngsters to use this opportunity to showcase his or her talent.
There is no reason why we cannot have more of our youngsters one day receiving Grammy Awards, like Ladysmith Black Mambazo has just done yesterday. It is the second Grammy they have won, so they have really done SA proud.
By now everyone knows that this provincial government has a simple and yet profound vision - building a Home for All. Under the leadership of the Premier Ebrahim Rasool we are actively building this Home for All through our economic development strategy, Ikapa Elihlumayo, which means "Growing and Sharing the Cape".
If indeed we are going to build this province into a Home for All, then we must celebrate the diversity of cultures, and what better way than through the arts.
This includes showcasing and celebrating the rich language history of this province, and in this respect I want to commend you for some of the productions, which will showcase that the Xhosa community and culture is very much a part of the Western Cape.
Festivals play an important part of our nation-building project and the opportunities, which you will offer through this programme, are important for our nation-building project. Through the arts we bring together our learners, teachers and the schools community at large, in an environment in which we can appreciate one another's cultures.
The musical show festivals, both classic and jazz, will be an ideal opportunity for our young ones to be exposed to professionals, and further foster their own development.
I am very happy that the wide range of activities, in all the official languages of the province and in various communities, will take the arts to the people, especially in the poorer communities and the rural areas.
Skill, hard work and endurance, at the end of the day ladies and gentlemen, must be rewarded. And therefor I am happy that our young deserving people will know they have a chance of being awarded a bursary to further their careers in sound, lightning and stage management.
Even if you cannot perform in drama, or cannot sing as beautiful, as a writer and composer you can still stand a chance of writing scripts.
Through this programme of yours, the arts, music and drama, it really offers an opportunity to our disadvantaged communities to improve their quality of life.
We know that we have huge social problems in many of our schools, including drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and lack of discipline among learners.
Incorporating the arts in this way into our curriculum, will give renewed opportunities to our learners to remain in school and complete their education. Currently we have too many learners, about 50%, who do not complete matric.
Our learners must receive HIV/AIDS education, which is integrated into a Life-Skills programme. Your Soundtrack 4 Life programme has a critical role to play, and I certainly want to encourage schools to engage with yourselves and, where appropriate, community- and faith-based organisations, to design and/or implement HIV/AIDS education programmes.
The Arts and drama are an indispensable means of improving the social fabric of our society, and can make a very real contribution to education - both explicit and subliminal around issues such as Aids, cruelty and abuse.
This programme of yours has an important role to play in promoting awareness and changing the attitudes of our learners.
Speaking of which, you may have noticed that some readers of Die Burger complained about me, as the Minister of Education, singing on the court steps on television and in the newspapers. They say it was indignant and unbecoming of the Minister.
Well, I am not sure what is wrong with me singing. I know I am not going to be able to make a career of it, but the music and the arts have always been a part of our liberation struggle. It was the freedom songs and the toyi-toyi that have always sustained our struggles over the years.
In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, my job as MEC for Education is to make sure we grow the Cape as a Learning Home for All. So we will need the energy and the efforts of people like yourself, to make this a reality. We need partners as Government alone will not succeed.
I want to commend you for your continued initiatives and input as part of efforts of building this province into a Home for All.
Thank you..
For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938, or gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.
Gert Witbooi
Media Secretary
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za
INtshona Koloni - iKhaya loMntu wonke
Die Wes-Kaap - 'n Tuiste vir Almal
