WHAT A NATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNEY REVEALS ABOUT DISTANCE, INFRASTRUCTURE AND SURVIVAL By Mpho J Molepo At The Creative Passport, we continue to ask a simple but urgent question:  What does the state of arts and culture look like when viewed from the ground, not from policy desks?  As national conversations increasingly turn to redress, access and sustainability in the arts, it has become clear that community arts cannot be discussed in abstraction.  They exist within specific geographies, infrastructures, and lived conditions that shape how creativity survives and evolves. The National Community Arts Research Travel experience offers a rare window into these realities. More than a research exercise, the journey across South Africa’s provinces exposed the physical distances, infrastructural limitations and operational pressures that define everyday life for community arts practitioners. Long hours on the road, remote locations and uneven access to basic resources wer...

POLICY, LAW, GOVERNANCE AND THE RESPONSIBILITY TO READ In the Cultural and Creative Industries, performance often takes centre stage — as it should.  Art moves people, heals communities, preserves memory and challenges power. But behind every performance lies a system of policies, legislation, governance frameworks and funding rules that quietly determine who gets supported, who is excluded, and whose work survives. For too long, many practitioners have chosen to engage only at the level of practice and expression, while avoiding the uncomfortable terrain of reading, policy engagement and intellectual participation . This has come at a cost — not only to individual artists, but to entire communities.          Image: ATCA Logo            Source: ATCA THE COMFORT ZONE OF PERFORMANCE — AND ITS LIMITS There is nothing wrong with being a performer, maker or creative worker.  The problem arises when practitioners disconnect the...

  THEMES, CONVERSATIONS AND WHY IT MATTERS As South Africa ’s Cultural and Creative Industries gather momentum in early 2026, the Community Arts Indaba arrives at a critical moment — not as a ceremonial event, but as a working platform to reflect, interrogate and reimagine the future of community arts in the country. This Indaba is designed as a multi-day engagement that moves beyond speeches and into structured dialogue, research reflection, policy consideration and sector-wide problem-solving.  For practitioners, administrators, researchers, funders and community leaders, the programme signals an intention to deal with substance, not slogans.          Image: ATCA Logo            Source: ATCA Day One: Setting the Context and Reclaiming Purpose The opening phase of the Indaba focuses on grounding the gathering in shared purpose. Through welcoming engagements and artistic expression, the Indaba sets the tone that communi...

Your Voice Still Matters By Thami akaMbongo Manzana The Creative Passport – Community Arts Engagement Series As the Community Arts Indaba approaches, conversations are intensifying.  Panels are being curated, programmes refined, and delegates confirmed.  Yet one truth remains unavoidable: not everyone who matters will be able to sit inside the venue . Distance, funding constraints, work commitments, accessibility challenges, and everyday survival realities mean that many community arts practitioners will not be physically present at the Indaba.  But absence from the room must not translate into absence from the conversation. At The Creative Passport , we firmly believe that community arts does not live in conference halls — it lives in townships, villages, community centres, schools, churches, street corners, and informal spaces . It lives where people create without guarantees, often without recognition, and frequently without support. This article is therefore an open i...

Building the Future of Community Arts: The Thinking Behind the Indaba  Following our recent article, Re-imagining Community Arts in South Africa , published as part of the build-up to the Community Arts Indaba taking place from 19 January 2026, we continue the conversation by engaging directly with one of the key figures at the centre of this national process. In this edition, we speak to Mpho Molepo, Head of Project at ATCA, to gain deeper insight into the vision, purpose, and strategic intent of the Community Arts Indaba.  The conversation also unpacks the role of ATCA, the organisation appointed by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and the responsibility entrusted to it in convening and implementing this critical programme for the community arts sector. Through this engagement, we explore the thinking, structures, and ambitions shaping the Indaba, as well as the broader implications for policy, funding, training, and the future positioning of community arts within ...