The annual in_Herit Festival will run until Sunday September 25 at the Iziko Museums.
It is being held in partnership with the HCI foundation, Business and Art South Africa and the Institute for Creative Arts.
Entry to all Iziko museums is free during the festival.
A programme jam-packed with performances, cultural activities and museum exploration is scheduled for Heritage Day, on Saturday September 24.
As a nation, South Africans are commemorating significant milestones in their history. The in_Herit festival theme”405060 – Commemorating our struggle milestones” pays tribute to the legends that shaped our democracy.
“Museums are more than collectors, conservers or keepers of the past. Our role has changed radically, to be catalysts that make the connections between our collections; initiate, inspire and instigate discussions and exhibitions on contemporary thought, as well as to promote tolerance and social cohesion. We can play an important role in supporting our democracy. Heritage Week is one of Iziko’s most important commemorative events, signifying the museum’s mission of conserving and ensuring access to our nation’s cultural heritage past and present,” said Iziko’s CEO, Rooksana Omar.
The in_Herit Festival includes talks, performances, lectures, exhibition openings and behind-the-scenes tours.
The week-long programme highlights and celebrates the richness, diversity and importance of our birthright as South Africans.
This opportunity provides museum visitors with the chance to learn, reflect and reclaim our heritage, and has the potential to serve as a nation-building instrument from which we can draw inspiration in our efforts to building a socially cohesive society.
The Iziko SA National Gallery will be open until 9pm today, Thursday September 22, hosting a ‘Thursday Late’ for the opening of the exhibition: Art of Disruption. On Friday September 23, experts at the Iziko SA National Museum will take visitors behind the scenes and into the entomology collection.
Heritage Day, Saturday 24 September 24, kicks off at 10am with cultural performances in the Whale Well and fossil preparation workshops at the Iziko South African Museum.
The Indoni Dance Academy will perform their dance piece Inkululeku (Freedom), while the UCT Youth Jazz Band will do a musical tribute for the exhibition Singing Freedom – music and the struggle on display at the Iziko Slave Lodge.
Another treat for visitors will be a performance by SA’s Got Talent finalist, Ltd Edition Drummers Corp, a group of young people from Manenberg who overcame the challenges of a drug and gangster ridden township.
Visitors will also have the opportunity unleash their inner creative, join Museum Teen Summit Africa and paint on the wall at the Iziko SA National Gallery.
Other Iziko museum sites will also host exciting heritage programmes. Fatima Sydow will be hosting a cooking demo and talk about her journey with Cape Malay cooking at the Iziko Bo-Kaap museum. Students from the Design Academy of Fashion and Elizabeth Galloway Academy of Fashion Design will host a fashion show: Unstitching the Past – an 18th century dialogue with contemporary South African fashion, at the Groot Constantia Estate.
These students have taken a leaf out of the Social History Textile and Clothing Collection to inspire their designs.
The museums too, houses many inspiring and enthralling exhibitions, will have events.
African Dinosaurs – always a hit with children – is on show at the Iziko South African Museum. Exhibitions at the Iziko South African National Gallery, The Art of Disruption; Studio: Celebrating the lives of South African Artists; Home Truths: Domestic Interiors from South African Collections and selections from the permanent collection provide a multi-layered visual feast ranging from historical painting and sculpture to contemporary art.
Red in the Rainbow; Singing Freedom and Simon Allen’s installation, Labels, showcased at the Slave Lodge are poignant narratives that inspire.
You Strike a Rock at the Iziko Koopmans-De Wet House marries current narratives of empowerment within the historical context of women as activist throughout time.
The Iziko Mobile Museum, Museums without walls, will be out and about visiting disadvantaged communities throughout the week. It is aimed at bringing the museum to the communities.
The founding purpose of this project is to take educational and inspirational museum resources to rural and urban communities, in order to increase public awareness of, and pride in, our heritage of indigenous knowledge in South Africa. The Mobile museum will also be at Groot Constantia estate on Heritage Day.
Take the whole family for a fun-filled day, pack a picnic lunch or support the food vendors and stroll around the Company’s Garden for a full day’s outing.
