Among the many highlights of this year’s Spiritfest is Dr Marjorie Jobson and Juan Kariem’s story of a journey towards reconciliation between one of the Worcester bombers and the community that was violated.
Among the many highlights of this year’s Spiritfest is Dr Marjorie Jobson and Juan Kariem’s story of a journey towards reconciliation between one of the Worcester bombers and the community that was violated.
In1996, four people died and 67 were injured when four members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), targeted a supermarket and a pharmacy in the Worcester Mall. The bombings were politically motivated.
Another experience not to be missed is the Festival Eucharist, on the first Sunday, at which the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, will preach. It will also feature a new Mass setting composed by young choristers, which will bring a distinctly South African tone to the music.
Makgoba will also participate in the Winter School, where he will lead a discussion on “Housing and Family Life in South Africa”, an issue very pertinent to civil unrest in the country.
Spiritfest has grown over the years and this year promises another challenging and exciting celebration of the arts in the context of Christian faith.
The annual festival unfolds from Thursday 3rd to Sunday 13th July at Grahamstown Cathedral and other churches in the ‘City of Saints’.
A unique Evensong for Artists, an innovative Spiritfest Fringe with open mic and a lecture series about seeing God in contemporary film, music and the other arts are all new additions in an expanded Spiritfest programme during this year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
The Spiritfest Winter School of lectures and book launches takes place at the same time and will see the launch of new books by Elijah Baloyi, Chris Mann and Trevor Webster.
Also on the Spiritfest programme is music, meditation, the visual arts and drama. Chris Mann, the award-winning playwright and poet, is also presenting a new play, “The Ballad of Dirk de Bruin”, about how a backveld farm boy becomes a whistle-blower and his controversial encounter with prosperity religion in contemporary South Africa.
David Butler, acclaimed for his Herman Charles Bosman and Braam Fischer one-handers, delivers another enthralling tour de force.
A new event this year is “Evensong for Artists”, an inspiring Choral Evensong for festival-goers, visual artists, musicians, writers and arts administrators. The service will feature the Grahamstown Cathedral Choir and original music, hymns and artwork by South African arts practitioners creating a unique act of sacred performance art.
Spiritfest’s music programme covers a variety of events, including Gospel Africa Music Concerts, St Michael’s Marimbas and an organ recital by Andrew-John Bethke, Director of Music and organist at Grahamstown Cathedral. Dr Bethke will present a varied programme of music for the organ, including works by Bach, Brahms and Boëllmann.
For the energetic, there will be the opportunity to climb the narrow spiral steps of the tallest spire in South Africa (53.6m) to view the country’s oldest bell tower, as well as to learn how the enormous bells are rung.
A new addition to this year’s programme is the Spiritfest Fringe, which will host an open mic. Anyone is welcome “to come and share a poem, a story, a sacred text, a song or testimony – yours or somebody else’s – with a sympathetic audience in the beauty of a sacred site,” said the organisers.
At the Winter School, Professor Elijah Baloyi of UNISA will launch his new book, “Building Africa Christian Marriages”, with an overview of this very important and topical issue in contemporary South African life.
Professor Chris Mann, of Rhodes University, will launch his new book, “Rudiments of Grace”, with a lecture on “Contemporary aspects of evolution, neural science and love”. Readings from the book – inspired by Dante’s classic sequence of love-poems – will be given by the award-winning actor, David Butler.
Dr Mike Smuts, former moderator of the Northern Synod of the Dutch reformed Church, will lecture on issues of faith and the Bible that are in apparent conflict with ever-evolving science.
Trevor Webster launches his new book, “Healdtown: Under the Eagle’s Wings”, which documents the history of this influential African mission school where many future leaders in the struggle for democracy, such as Nelson Mandela, were educated.
Fr Anthony Egan, Jesuit Priest, will deliver a lecture titled; “Until Jesus returns: unpacking democracy, dissent and divinity in a liberated South Africa”. Fr Egan has written widely on faith, justice and socio-politics.
Professor Paul Walters, of Rhodes, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of CS Lewis with a lecture on his life and the continuing influence of his work.
“Finding God in the Arts” is another new addition to Spiritfest, based in St Patrick’s Church, and comprises a series of invitations from the Jesuit Institute South Africa. This will explore how God is present all forms of the arts, from Broadway musicals to Harry Potter “for performers and spectators; for the religious, the spiritual and the plain curious”.
There will be daily guided meditations and members of the Institute will also be available for spiritual conversations.
Meditation practitioner Julia Skeen will lead “a guided meditation which focuses on the transfiguration of Mary, a young village woman, into a symbolic figure with global significance”.
Skeen will also be showing her latest art work, “Ageless Madonna: the transfiguration of Mary of Nazareth”. These iconic interpretations – which place Mary in three different cultural contexts – will be exhibited at the Grahamstown Cathedral.
An art exhibition by a group of Grahamstown locals and internationals – titled “40 Stones in the Wall” – will create a faith-based art initiative with paintings, drawings and sculptures on themes of preparation and promise, waiting and completion, ruin and rebuilding, and relationships among people, the city, the nation and God.
Artists include: Paul Greenway, Keith Van Winkel, Julia Skeen, Asanda Lusaseni-Mvana, Heidi Salzwedel, Jonathan Griffiths, Bronwen Salton and Marie Mohlomi. Festival goers are invited to chat with the artists-in-residence, who will be creating artwork daily.
St Patrick’s Church will also host a series of modern paintings of the Stations of the Cross by South African artist, Joseph Capelle, which are normally housed at the Jesuit Church in Johannesburg.
A smartphone app can be downloaded to help reflect on the pictures.
The full programme is now available online at: http://www.grahamstowncathedral.org/spiritfest/2014
