Afrika Burns Creative Projects’ emerging strategic purpose
from desire lines to purposeful steps towards making the transformative experience tangible, in continued and expanding action.
Since becoming custodians of Quaggafontein and Vaalfontein, the organisation’s role in the community has evolved and Outreach has decided to focus on the Tankwa Community.
*Outreach has broadly adopted the six measures of the Global Liveability Ranking’s index – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, as a guideline for implementing whole community support in the Tankwa.
Presenting our AfrikaBurn Outreach Report for 2019. This past year has been an incredible journey of collaboration and connection with…
Hold onto your hats and dust goggles – here’s the AfrikaBurn 2017 Outreach Report! This year, we’ve focused on extending…
We are pleased to present the AfrikaBurn 2016 Outreach Report. This document provides a detailed account of our efforts to…
We are pleased to present our report on the Community Day at Tankwa Padstal, held on November 7th and 8th,…
A roadshow in the Northern Cape (originally the host province of the AfrikaBurn event), which touched the lives of over 40 000 people with 6 forays into interdisciplinary arts and culture.
A collaboration by many South African artists and cultural practitioners hosted in the Northern Cape cities and towns of:
Kimberley, Galeshewe, (and Bloemfontein – just over the Free State border).
Nieuwoudtville, Loeriesfontein, Calvinia
Richmond, Nonzwakazi and De Aar
Paballelo, Olifantshoek, Kuruman and Mothibistad
Pofadder, O’Kiep, Nababeep, Springbok and Matjieskloof
Sutherland
The project toured community halls, local arts centres, a cultural tourism hub, many schools, parks, streets, a national gallery, museums, a university’s arts festival, state arts facilities, an independent book festival, a contemporary arts gallery, community based organisations, and a flower reserve.
With the tools to build our permaculture project from the ground up – picks, spades, shovels and garden gloves, the Eco-Trippers set up food tunnels and irrigation infrastructure for the groundbreaking event in April 2021.
The second edition in the Spring of the same year, saw a group of eager participants get involved in the continuation of our permaculture and habitat restoration activities.
Locally sourced Tankwa succulents were planted into the veld and in front of the cottage to start to re-establish groundcover, hold and build soil, semi circular bunds or pondings were dug with the goal of catching rainwater runoff, and ultimately rehabilitating the veld.
In 2021, we kicked off the inaugural Hammerschool, which aimed to capture the raw, transformative experience of the DPW desert vibe and set it loose in the heart of the city. A pilot of series of six sessions, led by badass women who’ve thrived in the DPW scene, 40 women and gender non binary folk dove into carpentry, electrics, basic metalwork, recycled materials, design and dreaming, and public art appreciation. The goal? To elevate, empower, and bridge the gap between leaders and learners by sharing both hardcore skills and the softer, more nuanced lessons of the DPW life.
Its second iteration as a public programme kicks off in August 2024 at ABHQ and the new cohort will be creating an artwork for Streetopia in November.
Bringing together thought leaders for panel discussions on the rub where AfrikaBurn intersects with the arts landscape, South African society, in order to evolve our conversations.
RISE is an intersectional intercultural gathering. The co-creation of a fundamentally challenging immersive programme, sited at AfrikaBurn’s rural home, in the Tankwa Karoo. The programme runs over 5 nights and 4 days and integrates the two focal areas: a deep dialogue series around women and gender non binary people in society using creative and artistic methods; and building a basic practical skill set towards resilience and disrupting traditional gender roles.
In 2021, 40 people came together in the Tankwa for the inaugural Resilience In Shared Endeavour, later dubbed “Desert Rose” the participants came from the Tankwa Karoo; Kimberley; Barrydale; Riebeek Kasteel; Stellenbosch; as well as the diverse Cape Town communities of: Mitchell’s Plain; Mfuleni; Muizenberg; Scarborough; Masiphumelele; Bo Kaap, Salt River and Observatory. Through various arts disciplines the group explored:
The third edition of RISE will return to the Tankwa Karoo in October 2024.
Flooding the streets with creativity since 2015, Streetopia is a one-day community organised festival by AfrikaBurn in collaboration with residents & civic organisations based in Observatory, Cape Town. Filled with art, sculpture, mutant vehicles, performances, music and market stalls, its attendance reaches around 5000 over the course of the day.
For one day, the streets of Obs are turned into a blank canvas where artists, performers, buskers, residents and kids can enjoy the open spaces and do their thing. The aim is to keep it villagey, intimate, spontaneous, open to collaboration, a space for causes and social activism – and completely free. From 2016 onwards, it has been recognised by the City of Cape Town as a Special Event and transplanted itself to Melville Johannesburg in 2019. In 2020 it became ETopia, an online platform with satellite hubs in Gauteng, Northern Cape and Western Cape and it returned to the streets in 2023.
Streetopia is happening on 30 November this year.
As a toast to the New Year, on January 19th to the 22nd we seized the opportunity as women and…
At Streetopia, the magic of the AfrikaBurn creative community spills out onto the streets of Observatory, Cape Town, bringing together…
Streetopia is an annual free one-day street festival held in Observatory, Cape Town happening this year on the 25th of…
In different formats, the access programme for divested artists, which was renamed Anathi in 2017, by Nokubonga Vusani (the backbone of our operations), has been around as long as the event itself. A means tested programme, it strives to offer an access opportunity to marginalised and disadvantaged people in South Africa and nationals of African countries, who would otherwise be economically excluded.
For the 2025 event Out Of The Blue, there will be an allocation of 200 radically discounted tickets and 200 grants for transport and welfare available. The application process will be different for the 2025 Out Of The Blue event, for more information head over to our ticketing website…
One of the organisation’s volunteer services at the Off-Centre Camp, Chillaz,
makes visible the organisation’s commitment to transformation through structural efforts towards Radical Inclusion.
It was co-designed by some long standing Burners of colour – who were part of a performance incubator programme in 2019, and who access Tankwa Town through the Anathi programme – in a workshop process with the organisation.
Together, we reimagined the OCC stage, as a platform for diverse and original African expression and a home of inclusivity for an evolving collective each year. During the pandemic, Chillaz first took flight as the ETopia anchor – a makeshift studio at ABHQ. The master plan then took off in Tankwa Town in 2022.
With a shared purpose of offering a platform to promote diverse expressions and live collaboration, SNAFU (BM) and Candle (AB) inaugurated the cultural exchange between the performance hubs at AfrikaBurn’s Off Centre Camp and Burning Man’s Center Camp Plaza in 2023. The exchange continues this year with Sargeant (BM) participating in ‘Creation’ and Gifted DJ (AB) heading over to ‘Curiouser & Curiouser’. The exchange is a learning experience that is intended to roll out each year and involve more Regional Events as the programme gains traction.
Aimed at enriching the Afrikan creative expression of the AfrikaBurn community – these discretionary grants support the gifting of traditional and indigenous culture through ceremony, ritual, workshops and offerings, that exist beyond the concepts of Theme Camp, Artwork, Performance and Mutant Vehicle.
“Putting the Afrika in AfrikaBurn” Culture Grants support crews to make their gift more accessible to the community.
Designed to kickstart projects that positively empower our communities in South Africa, Spark Grants exist to continue the culture of Tankwa Town by igniting the guiding principles in the default world.
There are 11 grants of R10 000 available, that’s technically one for each principle, on an annual basis. The application window is June each year, with outcomes and disbursements by the end of July.
Only people who have been to Tankwa Town in the cycle of application may apply.
This year 11 Sparks were sent around the country to ignite our Principles, and start some fires. Our Spark Grants…
In 2023 our Guiding Principles were sparked through murals, a composting waterless toilet, environmental projects, art and culture workshops and…
Eight Spark Grants were awarded to projects involving Burners from Space. These grants aim to ignite small community based projects…
This year eight Spark Grants were awarded to projects that involve Burners from SPACE. The grants spark small projects that…
To get in touch or get involved, please email us on [email protected] or [email protected]
Website developed by The Brain, Claire Shaban, and The Tim Doyle
Download Privacy Policy | Event Disclaimer | Terms of Use
Download Cookie Policy | Download POPIA Manual
Copyright 2024 AfrikaBurns Creative Projects NPC (Reg No. 2007/020812/08)
