This project, forms part of a larger collaberation “Providing cultural stepping stones for community youths” between the Flemish Community and SA National Youth Commission. This collaberation developed partnerships between:
- The Centre for Popular Memory (CPM), Cape town, South Africa;
- FARO, Brussels, Flanders/Belgium
- The Flemish Centre for Popular Culture (VCV), Brussels, Flanders/Belgium;
- Cultural Biography Flanders (CBV), Antwerp, Flanders/Belgium;
- Tapis Plein (TP), Bruges, Flanders/Belgium;
And the four selected community centres:
- Gauteng: Soweto: Ipelegeng Community Centre
- Freestate: Thaba Nchu Mmabana Arts and Cultural Centre
- Kwazulu Natal: Durban: BAT Centre
- Western Cape: Cape Town: Nyanga Arts Development Centre
The CPM project, Performing stories, trained young people in 4 provinces, between the ages of 18-35 to use oral history recordings to create performative outcomes. Through a mentorship and training programme interns gathered life-stories via interviews in their respective communities. These interviews were digitized and archived by CPM and transcribed by the youth interns. In partnership with the community centres the CPM assisted in creating a public output - such as an audio visual exhibition, performance or theatre production using the oral history interviews as raw material. A DVD, showing the process and providing further training in oral history, accompany this project.
