IN CONVERSATION WITH PETER BEZUIDENHOUDT [WITS UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT]
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Wits University is set to invest R341 million in a new Cultural Precinct that aims to strengthen the relationship between the university and the City of Johannesburg while creating a major new destination for arts, culture, performance, heritage and creative innovation.
The five-year development will transform the south-eastern edge of Wits University in Braamfontein into an accessible cultural and lifestyle hub, bringing together existing and new arts, performance, academic and heritage facilities.
The university says the project is intended to open more of its creative spaces to the public and contribute to the broader regeneration of Johannesburg.
At the centre of the development will be the Wits School of Arts and its various disciplines, including Digital Arts, Film and Television, Fine Arts, Music, Theatre and Performance, Drama for Life, cultural policy and visual cultures.
The precinct will also incorporate the Wits Art Museum, the Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts and the planned Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, as well as a new Digital Arts building and additional facilities for the Wits School of Arts.
Future phases are expected to consolidate Wits' music facilities and could potentially provide a home for a Symphony Orchestra. Plans also include new exhibition and foyer spaces, upgraded Fine Arts facilities, the Wits Theatre Amphitheatre and a new building and rooftop extension intended to expand and open up the Wits Theatre Complex.
Beyond academic and cultural facilities, the precinct will include restaurants, coffee shops, bookshops and other lifestyle spaces.
Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, says the development reflects the university's long-standing relationship with Johannesburg and its belief that universities have a responsibility to contribute to the social, cultural and economic life of the cities in which they operate.
He says the project is about creating spaces where students, artists, academics and members of the public can meet, create and exchange ideas.
The university believes the arts can play an important role in bringing new energy to Braamfontein while contributing to the wider renewal of Johannesburg.
A major contribution towards the project has come from Wits alumnus Chris Seabrooke, whose Seabrooke Family Trust has made a transformational donation of shares to the Wits Foundation.
The donation is expected to fund the majority of the estimated R341 million capital cost of the Cultural Precinct, with Wits contributing the balance. The donated shares will be sold by the Wits Foundation over the estimated five-year development period to provide funding for the project.
Seabrooke, who completed his MBA at Wits in 1985, is the CEO of Sabvest and has served as a director of 27 listed companies over the course of his career.
He has also held prominent positions in South Africa's arts sector, including serving as former chairman of the State Theatre of South Africa and deputy chairman of the inaugural National Arts Council of South Africa.
Seabrooke says the arts have the ability to bring people together and change the character of a place. His hope is that the new precinct will become a space that belongs not only to Wits students, academics and staff, but also to the people of Johannesburg.
The project is also being positioned as part of a wider cultural and innovation ecosystem in Johannesburg. The area surrounding Wits already includes major institutions such as the Joburg Theatre, Market Theatre, Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Constitutional Court.
Wits says the ambition is for the Cultural Precinct to become a destination that attracts people to Braamfontein, encourages greater interaction between the university and the public and strengthens Wits' position as a cultural anchor for Johannesburg, South Africa and the continent.
The development forms part of a broader programme through which Wits says it is opening its knowle
The five-year development will transform the south-eastern edge of Wits University in Braamfontein into an accessible cultural and lifestyle hub, bringing together existing and new arts, performance, academic and heritage facilities.
The university says the project is intended to open more of its creative spaces to the public and contribute to the broader regeneration of Johannesburg.
At the centre of the development will be the Wits School of Arts and its various disciplines, including Digital Arts, Film and Television, Fine Arts, Music, Theatre and Performance, Drama for Life, cultural policy and visual cultures.
The precinct will also incorporate the Wits Art Museum, the Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts and the planned Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, as well as a new Digital Arts building and additional facilities for the Wits School of Arts.
Future phases are expected to consolidate Wits' music facilities and could potentially provide a home for a Symphony Orchestra. Plans also include new exhibition and foyer spaces, upgraded Fine Arts facilities, the Wits Theatre Amphitheatre and a new building and rooftop extension intended to expand and open up the Wits Theatre Complex.
Beyond academic and cultural facilities, the precinct will include restaurants, coffee shops, bookshops and other lifestyle spaces.
Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, says the development reflects the university's long-standing relationship with Johannesburg and its belief that universities have a responsibility to contribute to the social, cultural and economic life of the cities in which they operate.
He says the project is about creating spaces where students, artists, academics and members of the public can meet, create and exchange ideas.
The university believes the arts can play an important role in bringing new energy to Braamfontein while contributing to the wider renewal of Johannesburg.
A major contribution towards the project has come from Wits alumnus Chris Seabrooke, whose Seabrooke Family Trust has made a transformational donation of shares to the Wits Foundation.
The donation is expected to fund the majority of the estimated R341 million capital cost of the Cultural Precinct, with Wits contributing the balance. The donated shares will be sold by the Wits Foundation over the estimated five-year development period to provide funding for the project.
Seabrooke, who completed his MBA at Wits in 1985, is the CEO of Sabvest and has served as a director of 27 listed companies over the course of his career.
He has also held prominent positions in South Africa's arts sector, including serving as former chairman of the State Theatre of South Africa and deputy chairman of the inaugural National Arts Council of South Africa.
Seabrooke says the arts have the ability to bring people together and change the character of a place. His hope is that the new precinct will become a space that belongs not only to Wits students, academics and staff, but also to the people of Johannesburg.
The project is also being positioned as part of a wider cultural and innovation ecosystem in Johannesburg. The area surrounding Wits already includes major institutions such as the Joburg Theatre, Market Theatre, Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Constitutional Court.
Wits says the ambition is for the Cultural Precinct to become a destination that attracts people to Braamfontein, encourages greater interaction between the university and the public and strengthens Wits' position as a cultural anchor for Johannesburg, South Africa and the continent.
The development forms part of a broader programme through which Wits says it is opening its knowle
