Creative student expo now on at Museum Africa

The event, which is sponsored by the City of Johannesburg: Directorate: Arts, Culture and Heritage, Arts Alive and the MTN SA Foundation, the principal sponsor, is also an opportunity to award seven bursaries, valued at more than R130 000 for outstanding students who are studying towards tertiary qualifications in the arts and creative industries at the city's educational institutions.

Institutions taking part in festival are AFDA, Artist Proof Studios, Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking, Damelin (Bramley), Greenside Design Centre, the Imbali Visual Literacy Project, the Market Photo Workshop, Moving Into Dance Mophatong, NEMISA, University of Johannesburg (FADA), Vuyani Dance Theatre, and Wits School of the Arts.

The initiative rewards excellence across five categories: Craft and Design; Dance; Film and Broadcast; Music; and Visual Arts and more than 70 students have entered the competition, some of whom will be showcasing their creative work at Museum Africa, curated by Bie Venter.

The judges

Panels of judges drawn from each area of study assess each category independently. This year's judges include dance admirers David April and Georgina Thompson (director FNB Dance Umbrella), music expert Kutlwano Masote, musician Paul Hanmer, curator and art consultant Melissa Mboweni, director of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Antoinette Murdoch , Glenda Venn (Chairperson of the SA Design Council) and Design Consultancy director Christopher Gough-Palmer

They will be rating the entries for originality, hard work and exceptional talent and will hand out bursaries and prizes during the award ceremony on Wednesday 21 October.

“The City of Johannesburg recognises that there are a number of excellent schools that teach specialized aspects of the creative arts and the creative industries. The festival is both an opportunity to celebrate the schools, teachers and students and to promote Johannesburg as a destination for creative education and training. We are honoured to be associated with the MTN Foundation in celebrating young creative excellence,” says Steven Sack, director; Directorate Arts, Culture, Heritage,

More details are online at www.cityfest.ning.com.