Last Monday (16 May) learners from four high schools from the Sundays River Valley converged on the Albany Museum’s Rennie Hall with one goal in mind: to preserve local heritage.
Last Monday (16 May) learners from four high schools from the Sundays River Valley converged on the Albany Museum’s Rennie Hall with one goal in mind: to preserve local heritage.
As part of a joint initiative between the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture (Dsrac) and the Albany Museum, the pupils were asked to ‘Celebrate Cultural Landscapes in My Hood’ by designing a piece of art that celebrates a memorial, a heritage site or a traditional song or poem that is significant to their school or neighbourhood.
It was a competition and prizes on offer included a school bag (4th), a digital camera (3rd), a laptop (2nd) and a laptop and printer for first place.
Learners took to the stage with poems, a photography collection, music and a short film. All four prizes went to Kirkwood High School Grade 11 learners who had the highest number of participants.
Marius Botha who led the Kirkwood High delegation said, “This is a good programme and I hope to see maximum participation from all schools.” Manzi Vabaza, the Museum Manager agreed and also encouraged the Department and the learners to preserve the artworks that had been created.
Dsrac’s Zandisile Sakatha said this would become an annual event to mark International Museum Day – which is celebrated worldwide on 18 May every year.
Every year the International Association of Museums (Icom) issues a theme to guide activities for the day with the aim of explaining the role of museums in societies. The theme for 2016 was Museums and Cultural Landscapes.
The day concluded with a guided tour of the museum by one of the educators, Lindinxiwa Mahlasela.
“The pupils were asked to ‘Celebrate Cultural Landscapes in My Hood’ by designing a piece of art that celebrates a memorial, a heritage site or a traditional song or poem that is significant to their school or neighbourhood.”
