Africa Centre
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| Motto | Their intention is to innovate, lead, challenge and transcend their geographical reality; to draw in new and wider audiences to novel experiences that will slowly recalibrate how society and people perceive and locate themselves. |
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| Formation | 2004 |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | The Africa Centre is an international arts and culture centre and platform for exploring contemporary Pan-African artistic practice and knowledge creation as a catalyst for social change. |
| Headquarters | Longstreet, Cape Town, South Africa. |
| Location |
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Official language
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English |
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Director
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Tanner Methvin |
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Main organ
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Board of directors |
| Website | http://www.africacentre.net |
The Africa Centre, in Cape Town, South Africa, is structured as a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide a platform for Pan-African arts and cultural practice to function as a catalyst for social change. All the projects it conducts, facilitates or supports have some social intention. These projects are supported by a variety of Pan-African artists.
The Africa Centre was formally established in 2004 as a Non-Profit Section 21 Corporation by Tanner Methvin, Ralph Freese and Adrian Enthoven in Cape Town, South Africa. This group became the original board of directors. The process began however in 2003, with the creation of a land development policy framework, a spatial planning analysis, a feasibility study and a financial model devised to determine possible directions and potential support for the initiative. At this time it was envisioned that the Africa Centre would be housed in an iconic building in South Africa as part of a broader housing development called the South Bank. This development was intended to create a model of sustainable living that combined mixed income, mixed use and was modelled on strict ecological principles. While the building planning was being developed, the Board appointed a reference group of internationally recognised visual and performance artists, scholars and curators to determine the philosophical goals of the Centre. The members of this group were:
Over a period of eighteen months, members of the group held several and workshops in Africa, North America and Europe. These meetings gave rise to a series of position papers focusing on the contextual framework, the potential audiences and the content of the Africa Centre, its architectural form and the programs expected to be developed over the next five years.
What emerged from the work of the reference group and the Board was an intention to create an organisation that could innovate, lead, challenge and transcend its geographical reality; to draw in new and wider audiences to novel experiences that recalibrate how we perceive and locate our society and ourselves. The intention was to provide a space dedicated to the celebration, creation and performance of contemporary African artistic and intellectual expression. What was paramount was the recognition that this voice is the fruit of an ever-evolving conversation, argument and counter-argument. As such the Africa Centre aims to reflect this multiplicity of identity, be proactive as well reactive and always provocative. The Africa Centre strives to be a hothouse for avant-garde ideas, sewing original avenues for exchange and debate; a brain trust with the capacity to project manage, partner with other organisations, sponsor, curate and develop an archive of resources. It wants to be a curious citizen that is committed to social activism and a sustainable future, as well as has the capacity of art and cultural expression to enhance the full range of the human experience.
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Wikipedia