Masi Violin Outreach, a non-profit organisation (NPO) that began in 2017 with just 30 children, has grown into a powerful engine for community development and youth employment.
Today, the programme provides free, long-term violin education, instruments, and music theory to 84 active young musicians, with another 50 children on the waiting list for next year. However, its latest initiative, Masi Activates, is shifting the spotlight from childhood education to professional empowerment.
Groundbreaking project
Launched in October this year and running until March next year, Masi Activates is a groundbreaking six-month project funded by the National Arts Council through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 7), according to Masi Violin CEO Nadiah Mony.
The initiative directly addresses a pervasive crisis in the South African creative sector: the steep gap between musical talent and sustainable employment.
By creating paid, part-time jobs for eight emerging arts practitioners, the project provides mentorship, practical training and well-being support.
What makes Masi Activates extraordinary is its lineage.
Many of the newly employed practitioners are alumni who first walked through the programme’s doors nearly a decade ago as young children learning to hold a violin. Today, they are returning as paid professionals, transitioning from the front of the classroom to the steering wheel of the organisation.
“We’ve spent years investing in these young people through music education,” she said.
“We are now seeing what can happen when that investment continues beyond childhood. It’s one thing to teach a child to play an instrument. It’s another to watch that same child grow into an adult who can lead a meeting, organise an event, communicate with a supplier and manage responsibilities.”
Rollout
The project gives these emerging leaders full administrative and creative control over four major public events.
The rollout begins next month, with the Masi Activates Festival, hosted at the Masicorp Chasmay Campus in Masiphumelele.
The alumni are orchestrating the entire festival—coordinating external vendors, managing logistics, handling community invitations and balancing financial processes.
Following the festival, from January to March next year, the team will spearhead three public space activations.
These pop-up musical interventions are designed to bring high-quality live music directly into the streets of Masiphumelele, fostering community cohesion and giving younger students unique performance platforms.
The ultimate vision for Masi Violin Outreach is a self-sustaining ecosystem where local youth enter as absolute beginners, grow as artists, and eventually inherit leadership roles within their own neighbourhood.
By equipping these young adults with transferable skills in event production, financial administration, and stakeholder engagement, Masi Activates is proving that the discipline of learning an instrument is merely the foundation for a lifetime of professional accountability.
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