Mindscapes a highlight at Witness Hilton Arts Festival

The Mindscapes programme encompasses all the non-performance aspects of the festival and promises to be an inspirational intellectual melting pot with strong sustainability and conservation themes. Including a series of lectures, debates, documentary movies and workshops, Mindscapes offers a jam-packed programme to whet a diverse range of creative appetites.

Important sustainability issues

"Supporting Mindscapes shows our commitment to engaging both with the richness of South Africa's local talent and the important sustainability issues facing this country," says David Polkinghorne, CEO of Grindrod Bank. Mindscapes in particular will address this contentious topic and the bank views the festival as a powerful enabling opportunity.

Headlining Mindscapes 2012 is the Grindrod Bank Mindscapes Dialogue. This session consists of two interactive, thought-provoking panel discussions chaired by the CEO of KZN Wildlands Conservation Trust, Dr. Andrew Venter, who is a committed eco-entrepreneur and expert on sustainability leadership. Dialogue, which will take place on Saturday, 22 September at 12:00, is entitled 'Arts: Ambassadors for a Sustainable Future'. It includes conversations with Ismail Mohamed, director of the National Arts Festival, Nicolette du Plessis, an independent arts consultant specialising in cultural development, and Mike van Graan, a playwright and political arts activist.

Lively discussion expected

Dialogue 2, taking place on Sunday, 23 September at 11:00am, is entitled 'Business, Education and Sustainability', and promises to be a lively discussion between the CEO of Grindrod Bank, David Polkinghorne, Sandile Zungu, the executive chairman of Zungu Investments Company, Louise Duys, head of sustainability of Unilever, and Busisiwe Kuzwayo, deputy director general in the KZN provincial government. Both dialogue sessions are free of charge and give participants exclusive access to the premier of award-winning 'Horn of Sorrow', by playwright Nicholas Ellenbogen, which describes the plight of the rhino.

In addition to the Mindscapes Dialogue, is the workshop with celebrated author of the Spud book series, John van der Ruit. For those festival attendees wishing for a visual feast, there will be movie screenings of three documentaries developed around the theme of 'Human Impact on the Environment' which have been made available courtesy of Francoise du Toit, CEO of The Africa Conservation Trust.

Detailed information can be found on www.hiltonfestival.co.za.