MEDIA RELEASE
NO. 639/2008
17 NONVEMBER 2008

Executive Mayor Helen Zille has announced an exciting new venture on the tourism calendar for Cape Town. From 2010, Cape Town will have an annual all inclusive Carnival that will aim at bringing together the diverse communities of the city through music, dance, creative and cultural expression, culminating in a weekend of inclusive fun for Capetonians and visitors alike.

“Upon visiting Rio, we identified that Cape Town has no shortage of cultural offerings combining music, dance and other kinds of creativity, however, these all seem to be catering for particular niches. One thus never sees the rich tapestry of music genres, cultural representations and dance styles together, as an expression of the heart of Cape Town, rich in its diversity,” says Professor Rachel Jafta, founding member and chairperson of the Cape Town Carnival Trustees.

“We wanted to create something new, where communities interact and celebrate our uniqueness, but also unite as citizens of one of the most beautiful cities of the world,” says Rachel.

She goes further by identifying the three main objectives of the Carnival as being “the enhancement of social cohesion and cultural expression, the building of community self-esteem and development and the creation of positive spin-offs for the local economy and especially tourism.”

The inaugural Cape Town Carnival will be held from 12–14 March 2010, in between the Argus Cycle Tour and the Two Oceans Marathon, therefore adding to the tourism calendar. The theme for the 2010 Carnival is “Rhythm, Roots & Boots”, giving the participants a chance to put on their dancing shoes, fire up their rhythms and tell wonderful visual stories of diverse and common roots that span lifetimes.

The Friday night of the Carnival will be known for Carnival balls and dancing, whether it is in a community hall, at a participating hotel or club or a beach or street party. The Trust would love everyone to accredit their event to be formally included in the Carnival programme.

On the Saturday, eight groups consisting of between 1500–3000 artists (dancers, musicians, singers etc.) will parade through the streets with magnificent floats reaching 2–3 storeys’ high. At midday the actual competition will start, with the groups performing for 60 minutes each. Professional judges will evaluate the groups with their input accounting for 50% of the points. The rest will be determined by SMS voting from the public. At the stroke of midnight the winners will be announced and the top five groups will automatically qualify to enter into the next Carnival. The other three places will be competed for again in knock-out rounds. And then the city will party on.

The Carnival songs will be recorded and distributed for months prior to the event with the intention that the public will get to know the songs and join in whilst their favourite group dazzle the judges and audiences.

More
The Carnival model has been developed to create groups of communities, crossing across geographical and cultural boundaries, working towards a common goal. The Trust would ideally like to see large corporate firms adopt a group, not only through corporate sponsorship, but also through the involvement of their corporate employees, assisting in the designing and building of floats and costumes and participating in the actual performances. “The idea is that ordinary citizens from diverse groups will work together to create something amazing the engineer from Rondebosch, getting to know the Grade 12 student from Langa. We hope that the ‘creative’s ad agencies, designers, architects, engineers, musicians and tailors will all offer their expertise to create the largest, most exciting Carnival in Africa,” says Isabel Meyer, Programme Manager of the Cape Town Carnival.

Although the idea was inspired by the Rio Carnival, the Cape Town Carnival will be uniquely South African. The Rio Carnival attracts approximately 500 000 visitors to the city and is broadcast across all the continents. The Carnival Trustees are confident that, with the buy-in of everyone in our communities, commerce, tourism and creative industries, Cape Town could follow suit in the years to come.

http://www.capetowncarnival.com

The Cape Town Carnival Trust (CTCT) is an organization for Public Benefit. Its aim is to create and sustain a community project which will bring together the communities from Cape Town across cultural and socio-economical boundaries through music, dance, creative and cultural expression, culminating in a weekend of inclusive furn for Capetonians and visitors alike.

END

ISSUED BY:
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL: 021 400 3719

MEDIA QUERIES:
ISABEL MEYER
PROGRAMME MANAGER
CELL 083 601 9097
CTC@MAYALUGA.CO.ZA

PROFESSOR RACHEL JAFTA
CHAIRPERSON
CELL 082 785 8061