Giving back to the larger community was one of the founders’ main objectives when establishing Solo Studios in the Riebeek Valley. Since its inception in 2016, the weekend has become increasingly popular in artistic circles.
Every year this intention has materialised through donations to community projects. One of the more recent beneficiaries is the For Life Centre. This weekend, from 18 to 20 August, Solo Studios takes it a step further by including both the Riebeek Valley Steelband and the recycling art of the For Life Centre in the official programme.
Visitors will have the opportunity to witness this art and its creation first-hand.
Mark Graham-Wilson and his colleagues established the For Life Centre last year as a community centre for art and mental-health resources, with the aim of individual personal growth, community upliftment and development, reconciliation, and social cohesion.
For Life strives to provide a sanctuary, especially for young people, where these objectives can be achieved by discovering meaning and purpose.
Graham-Wilson is a seasoned and award-winning actor, director and producer who has been actively involved in various capacities in the South African stage, screen, and television industry for the past 42 years. This includes as artistic director of Generations, head writer of Scandal!, Binnelanders, Fishy Fêshuns, director of Isidingo and 7de Laan.
It also includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, MISSION: Ingrid Jonker, I Was King, Fiela’s Child – The Musical, and many others.
A significant part of his work has also been teaching in the industry.
Initially, the For Life Centre operated from a single location, but the management decided to offer the various activities at satellite venues within the community instead.
In addition to a new youth steelband at the POP (Path Onto Prosperity) Centre in Riebeek-West, there is a reading group and art classes there, a popular monthly Poetry Jam, hip-hop dance classes, as well as a heritage group in Riebeek-Kasteel.
The recycling art classes are a unique concept where Nico Rens, a qualified interior designer and therapeutic masseur, teaches young people how to use trash for art.
Rens, a native of the Eastern Cape, says he works with three age groups, each consisting of 20 children.
These artworks, including several trash light chandeliers that have already been purchased by numerous homeowners, aim not only to educate and guide young art students in self-worth and recycling awareness but also to expand it so that some of the students can make a living from this recycling art.
During the Solo Studios weekend, the art will be on display, and visitors will also have the opportunity to see the young artists in action at the POP Centre where they create this art.
Tickets and more information about Solo Studios 2023 are available on the website www.solostudios.co.za
