The Cultural Centre of GugaS’thebe as a Transformative Creative Space

Booyens, Irma and Mkuzo, Ndipiwe and Morgan, Marco Brent; Hracs, Brian J. and Comunian, Roberta and England, Lauren, eds. (2021) The Cultural Centre of GugaS’thebe as a Transformative Creative Space. In: Developing Creative Economies in Africa. Routledge Contemporary Africa (1). Routledge, pp. 133-148. ISBN 9781003191681 (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003191681)

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Abstract

Culture is seen as important for employment creation, poverty reduction and area development in South Africa. This chapter considers the case of the GugaS’thebe, a multi-purpose cultural space in the township of Langa on the outskirts of Cape Town. We argue that this creative space is transformative – while the centre functions as a makerspace for local creatives, social development outcomes are also observed. GugaS’thebe is not a typical incubator initiative – the space is multi-generation and there is a critical mass of permanent local creatives among whom there is a strong sense of ownership and embeddedness.

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)