Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Funderland festival of fun
Event promises to keep kids brimming with joy
A WONDERLAND jam-packed with fun awaits you during the school holidays.
Funderland, an 11-day family festival and children’s expo, will be held at GrandWest from March 28 to April 7.
Organisers say the event includes interactive fantasy zones, e-sports, virtual-reality gaming, 3D printing and a wide range of stage shows.
Some of the zones include:
• The DinosAlive exhibition, an outof-this-world experience that will take you on a journey to a time when dinosaurs ruled the planet.
DinosAlive will have lifelike dinosaurs and lots of fun activities.
• The Jungle will have games, online drawing and a virtual-reality movie area. This zone will explore the animal kingdom.
• The Rise of
Robots: The History of
Transformers is a walkthrough exhibition depicting the rise of
Transformers from the 1980s, animated Generation 1 toy lines, to the new-age animated Rescue Bots. There will also be incredible scrap metal sculptures that tower above, representing the
CGI Transformers we see in the movies today.
• Magic shows.
• Drone racing.
• A virtual-reality party with games and sports.
The festival will host a talent search and competition too.
The organisers have invited 2 000 disadvantaged children to experience the festival, through its partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.
Funderland’s partnership with the department gives 30 pupils from each of the 181 schools that host the department’s after-school programme, MOD, an opportunity to attend the festival. The children with the highest attendance records will be afforded the opportunity to attend the event.
“The MOD (Mass participation; Opportunity and access; Development and growth) programme offers children alternative options after school hours – to keep them away from social ills.
This is why we want to reward the children who regularly attend the MOD programme in their areas, but also to hold them up as role-models to encourage other children to increase their attendance,” says Tania Colyn, head of communications at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.
In addition, the Funderland Foundation has made a proposal for schools to get commissions from their promotion of the event and their ticket sales. These funds must be used to uplift each school’s art, cultural or sports requirements, or used for the costs for attending the event, such as for transport and food.
Funderland head of marketing
Heidi Croxford said: “The entire team are incredibly excited about the partnership between Funderland and the department’s MOD programme.
“We are assured that we will achieve the objectives we have set for close to 2 000 disadvantaged learners, and that we will make a meaningful and positive difference in their lives.”
Funderland will provide these pupils with free entry into the event, a carnival ride and entry into the Funderland Talent Search and the Mzansi Talent Competition.