Imagine a City Hall which is the hub of a vibrant cultural community. Imagine a place of memories, restored to its former glory. Imagine a venue where every citizen can have a say in what they want this space to be.

The Imagine City Hall Initiative is aimed at inspiring the people of Cape Town and beyond to register their support for the development of the Cape Town City Hall as a dedicated cultural venue.

Imagine City Hall was born as an idea between the Africa Centre, Cape MIC, the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) and Cape Town Partnership’s Creative Cape Town programme: organisations with a vision, audience base, resources and the critical support of various stakeholders to make the City Hall function as a dynamic project. The key aim of project is to garner support for the City Hall as dedicated premier cultural venue for all Capetonians, which should ideally forward the broader arts and heritage of the city and the continent.

Since 1996, the Cape Town Partnership has been working on lobbying government, carrying out research, developing a business plan and funding proposals, and establishing structures (with the support of former Mayor Helen Zille) to manage and redevelop the space as a dynamic cultural space suited for the 21st century. Now, after the Cape Town Library’s move into the refurbished Drill Hall in 2009, the space it had occupied for close to 40 years is ready for an injection of new life.

The first glimpse of its possibilities will come when the Africa Centre uses the grand old spaces for the Spier Contemporary art exhibition from 13 March – 14 May 2010. The exhibition is designed to use the space in a dynamic way to attract and engage both seasoned art critics and those who have never attended an art exhibition. For the duration of the exhibition, the venue will also house a cafe and a shop, as well as hosting regular events by outside initiatives as well as workshops for children.
The re-imagining of the space will take into account the important heritage of the building. The classic lines of the 1905 Italian Rennaissance building, juxtaposed with the exhibit of contemporary artworks, provide a natural focus for the Central City’s cultural renaissance.

The partners have turned to social media to engage citizens in the project. A Facebook group has been set up. There are already close to 500 fans, and their comments reflect their wide support for the project.

Musician Tina Schouw wrote: “I think this is a great initiative. I fully endorse the City Hall’s role as a cultural hub… it could be the place to inspire and grow upcoming artists through the sharing of creative tools for their development.”

The group also inspires people who performed in the Hall as youngsters, such as Richard Martin who says he remembers “our school band at Florida Primary playing at the City Hall in the 70′s…I later returned to play a brass concert with BBSA (Moravian Brass)…funny this was also the place where the Arch (Tutu) and Jonathan Butler appeared together in the 90′s with the same hairstyle…”.

Joe Bloggs writes: “This is an awesome building and sad to see it in the state it’s currently in. It’s in the city centre and hence it should be a symbolic central melting pot of culture utilised by the greater public of Cape Town. Concerts, events & exhibitions is a fine starting point.”

Further information about the project is at http://www.creativecapetown.net/imagine-city-hall-explained/ or watch the video.

Contact Beryl Eichenberger at 021 556 8200 / 082 490 6652 or Zayd Minty, Creative Cape Town Co-ordinator at 021-4191881

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3. Ruth Levin’s Production of ‘The Maids’ Hits Centre Stage and Kick Starts The Revival of Cape Town City Hall
4. My Cape Town Weekend in the Company Gardens
5. My Cape Town Weekend in the Company’s Garden