Cultural aficionado at the helm
KEITU GWANGWA: WINDYBROW ARTS CENTRE’S NEW HEAD PLANS AFRICAN TREASURE HOUSE
She brings a wealth of national and international experience to the job.
The reopened Windybrow Arts Centre has a new head – Keituletse “Keitu” Gwangwa, the daughter of legendary SA jazz musician Jonas Gwangwa and social activist Violet Gwangwa.
As the head of the Windybrow Arts Centre with its specific focus on Pan-African cultural expression, Gwangwa, who is also a qualified sangoma, will draw from two organisations which she has led previously. Ndebi Creations and African Zazi, which both focus on celebrating African culture and heritage.
She has national and international experience as an artist, skilled arts administrator, arts advocate and events manager.
Gwangwa has also worked as an assistant director for her father and French director Sophie Loucachevsky.
She honed her skills at the arts administration organisation, Cultural Helpdesk, managing a Dutch-South African arts exchange website.
Simultaneously she was working as a producer and director with 2004 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance Portia Mashigo and choreographer Gladys Agulhas on projects that headlined at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Wits 969 Festival and Dance Umbrella.
“Keitu brings an extensive range of experience, a deep passion for the arts and a visionary outlook on how the Windybrow Arts Centre can contribute to growing a strengthened arts industry and a vibrant cultural sector,” says Ismail Mahomed, CEO of the Market Theatre Foundation, which appointed her.
“Keitu has the skills, experience, stamina and fortitude to
lead the Windybrow Arts Centre and to build it up to the same high artistic standards as the Market Theatre Foundation’s three other divisions: the Market Theatre, Market Theatre Laboratory and Market Photo Workshop,” he added.
Gwangwa has fond memories of the space, which reopened after becoming part of the Market Theatre Foundation in 2016 and then undergoing renovations.
“I did my final year exam at the Windybrow, so I have a special place in my heart for the theatre.
“I attended a few productions there in the time it was active and even enjoyed a sit-in rehearsal with [US actor] Danny Glover,” she says.
“I am excited about all the treasures we will uncover, expose and engage with.
“But mostly I am looking forward to learning and being part of shaping the face and function of such a precious heritage institute,” says Gwangwa. “I hope we will be able to create a vibrant platform for exchange and artistic works that will add value to the ever-expanding subject of Pan-Africanism.”
The Windybrow Arts Centre now proudly brands itself with the tagline “More than just a theatre” to reflect its role as a custodian of South African culture and heritage from the past and into the future.
The bustling centre is home to the Exclusive Books Pan-African Reading Room and has a partnership with the International Library for African Music.
It also presents a dance programme in partnership with local dance organisations.
The centre is also the base for the newly-launched Windybrow Drama Company comprised of alumni from the Market Theatre Laboratory.
“The 121-year-old Windybrow heritage house stands for me like a classic lady who has many tales about times past and still so many more to tell.
“I’m looking forward to the prospect,” says Gwangwa.
She joins administrator Nomalanga Nkosi in taking the Windybrow Arts Centre on a new journey.