Grahamstown must have a name-change, the Grahamstown Foundation said this week. But it wasn't the Grahamstown name-change controversy the organisation was leaping into.
Grahamstown must have a name-change, the Grahamstown Foundation said this week. But it wasn't the Grahamstown name-change controversy the organisation was leaping into.
Instead, executive director Louisa Clayton was referring to the city's nickname as 'The Festival City'.
At a meeting of Makana's Tourism and Cultural Industries portfolio committee this week, Clayton proposed that Grahamstown be rebranded as the 'The Creative City', in line with its role as the creative hub of the Eastern Cape.
She was introducing the Creative City Project, which aims to develop and market Makana’s identity as a kaleidoscope of creativity.
“Maybe we need to go through a name-change – from The Festival City to the Creative city,” Clayton said in Tuesday's presentation to the official oversight committee.
The proposal was well received by some of the city's top brass.
“This little city is incredibly exceptional,” said councillor Piryawaden Ranchhod, whose portfolio responsibilities include infrastructure development and finance.
He emphasised the value of the local creative industry and said Makana's entering the creative industry market would secure economic investment in the district.
Promoting the Makana brand was a crucial component of this and the committee discussed ways in which this could be achieved cost-effectively and efficiently.
Makana's Director of Local Economic Development, Riana Meiring noted the need to build links between various creative projects in the city.
These, she said, would fall under the umbrella of the Creative City project, which would ideally contribute to the funding and maintenance of these projects.
The creative rebranding aims to boost tourism in Makana – not only bringing tourists into Grahamstown, but also encouraging residents to explore the varied sites in and around the city.
For example, Ranchhod explained, there are rock art sites less than 30km from Grahamstown. These could play a vital role in edutourism in the area, he said.
In order for the Creative City venture to be successful there needed to be a buy-in from the community, said the committee.
The budget for the project remains an issue however. Meiring encouraged the project members to come up with a funding proposal, since budget issues were currently under discussion.
