Delegates at the 2016 ACT | UJ Arts & Culture Conference will get the chance to engage in a creative workshop of their choice on the first day of the #creativeintersections conference. These practical workshops will take the form of two follow-on sessions, collectively resulting in a two-hour crash course. With eleven diverse workshops on offer, the hardest part will be deciding in which one to engage. But, if the conference ethos of multi-disciplinarity is kept in mind, delegates will find themselves immersed in a workshop that offers new skill sets and ways of thinking. Each of the seminars will delve into a specific creative endeavour, offering those in attendance practical experience and theoretical understanding in a relaxed, but stimulating, environment.
The workshops include:
The Makers Library Network in partnership with British Council presents the Hologram Maker
Maker Librarians from Thingking and Geekulcha will be curating a participatory skills-sharing workshop, which will look at off-screen data representation, such as holograms and Google Glass. Please note this workshop is limited to fifteen spaces, and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis, i.e. the first fifteen delegates that buy conference tickets and select this workshop will be accepted. Once 15 booked delegates are tallied from the date of this release, the workshop will be removed from the list of options on the ticketing system.
Identity Maker
The online creative showcase, Between 10 and 5, will curate a how-to course in self-branding, developing and managing your own online identity. “Having an online presence and knowing how to share your work or service with the right people is key in today’s digital marketplace,” says Layla Leiman, editor-in-chief of Between 10 and 5. She says this workshop will shine some light on how to create, curate, and communicate yourself online. Delegates are encouraged to bring laptops, iPads or smartphones to this workshop (if possible).
Rain Maker
Delegates will be taught how to undertake strategic resource planning and create mutual value in collaborative projects. The workshop sets out to stimulate critical thinking around the development of innovative business strategies, including the development of partnerships, collaborations and project proposals that create income-generating streams. This workshop will include an exploration of crowd funding hosted by South Africa’s leading online crowdfunding experts, Thundafund.
Value Maker
Presented by Moniek van Erven from 1GiantLeap, this workshop is a crash course in the incubator process, exploring the critical thinking and testing that goes into converting your start-up idea into an empire.
Audience Maker
Learnings from Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and the British Council Connect ZA’s year-long audience development programme will be shared with delegates, as a snapshot of how the South African arts community can be impacted in a sustained and ongoing way. The workshop will focus intensely on training arts organisations to interrogate current audiences, to be able to significantly grow new audiences, and to become audience-focused organisations.
Play Maker
In this experiential energising PLAY!-shop, artist Anthea Moys invites delegates to interact with a collective of individuals to find effective creative solutions through play. “Attendees can expect to have fun and engage in a one-of-a-kind experience where, through playful interdisciplinary processes, we will respond, steal, adapt, rework, unlearn, make mistakes, fail, break and remake the originally accepted ‘rules of the game’ so as to create new techniques for working and playing together,” says Moys. “And we will make something;” she adds, “what we will make will depend on what you bring to the party.” So, make sure to bring your sense of adventure, your curiosity, and come and play.
Image Maker
This hands-on workshop combines an introductory course in photography and illustration, that will activate attendees’ creative sides, resulting in a take-home original masterpiece being created by everyone in attendance. The workshop will be facilitated by Angel Khumalo from Jeppestown Photo Club.
Dance Maker
This unique opportunity allows delegates to get moving in the dance studio. Explore choreographic forms and dance techniques, with acclaimed dance maker, David April. “The workshop will be an innovative, high-impact, creative and fun intervention, which will stimulate the physical, intellectual and emotional facets of the participants by integrating movement, rhythm and poetic imagery,” says April. He says each participant will be introduced to the concept of integrating rhythm, movement and the theme, which will be determined by the needs of participants, in order to create an exciting performance product.
Beat Maker
A practical workshop offering an interactive opportunity to explore the ins and outs of deejaying, mixing and vinyl record appreciation.
Thought Maker
A hands-on, brain-on thinking course described by host Robyn Cook as a “crash course in empathy (design thinking 101)”. Discover how designers solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients by drawing upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be.
Content Maker
Learn the trade secrets of creating content people want to read. In this intensive writing workshop, delegates will explore how to effectively write about themselves and their work on a variety of platforms and for diverse audiences. The Incorrigible Mary Corrigal will guide delegates through this workshop.
The 2016 ACT | UJ Arts & Culture Conference taking place on 16 and 17 March 2016, is entitled #creativeintersections – an interactive experience, and is presented by the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) and UJ Arts & Culture, in partnership with the Department of Arts & Culture’s Mzansi Golden Economy Programme, Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and SAMRO Foundation with support from the National Arts Council, Nedbank Arts Affinity, Creative Feel Magazine and SAfm.
To stay up to date with information and opportunities, visit www.creativeconference.co.za, or follow the Creative Conference on Twitter or Facebook. Tickets for the conference are now available on the website.
