The Stellenbosch University (SU) Museum has won its first award! At the annual Cultural Affairs Awards Ceremony, held by the Western Cape Government's Department of Cultural Affairs on 3 March 2018, it walked away with the award for Best Museum Promoting Social Inclusion.
Director of the SU Museum, Mr Bongani Mgijima, said that the public programmes of the Museum provide inclusivity without exclusivity. In this way, the Museum has become a safe space for intergenerational conversations and exchanges.
Mr Mgijima said that, to demonstrate inclusivity and social impact, efforts are made to include artists from previously disadvantaged communities – Lunga Kama, Zembe Luzamba, and many others. He added that the Museum invites schools from areas such as Khayelitsha and Delft throughout the year, not only to learn about the arts, but to consider SU as a place they would like to call their university in future.
“Our education and public programmes also provide the learners with lunch and a campus tour. We are not only educating the learners on the importance of the arts but we are, simultaneously, recruiting them for the University because we want them to study here," Mr Mgijima explained.
“Winning this award means that our hard work is recognised. But awards are not the only important thing – we want to see this space being used not only by students but by members of the community. We want to be appealing to people from different worlds."
He said that the SU Museum is a nexus for the community and the University because the Museum links the two. Programmes at the Museum are, moreover, geared mostly towards previously disadvantaged communities.
As part of the University's Centenary commemorations, the Museum would like to invite the public and SU students to a new exhibition – Stellenbosch University: Past Present Future – set to open on 8 May 2018. The Museum also hosts Centenary Fridays, when visitors are taken on guided tours of the Museum and told about the history of the University.
On 12 April 2018, the Museum will celebrate the life of former president Nelson Mandela – the first president of a truly democratic South Africa – by hosting a Nelson Mandela colloquium in collaboration with the Mandela Museum.
For more information, click on http://www0.sun.ac.za/museum/.
Main photo: From left are Elvandre Galant, museum assistant, Ricardo Brecht, heads public programmes and education officer, Johannes Adam, senior custodian and Lloyd Africa, museum assistant.
Photo: Rozanne Engel
