Originally established 54 years ago as the official performing arts council for the Western Cape, Artscape has today developed into a vibrant, multifunctional creative arts centre, offering exceptional venue facilities and specialist theatrical services.
Historically, the Artscape Theatre Centre belongs to the provincial administration and was opened on 19 May 1971 as the Nico Malan Theatre Centre. And what started out as the then Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) in the early 1960’s, it boasted four arts companies – orchestra, opera, ballet, and drama. The aim was to promote the performing arts.
Artscape has since grown into multiple theatre venues providing essential technical and specialised services with an emphasis on sustainable theatre practice, education and development. With its close proximity to Cape Town’s central business district, the new International Convention Centre and the V & A Waterfront, Artscape is ideally situated to serve the Cape’s performing arts, film, tourism, entertainment, conference, and exhibition industries.
Covering an area of some 14 000 square meters, the Artscape complex consists of a fully equipped Opera House, seating just over 1500 people, a theatre seating 540, a smaller theatre seating 130, a piazza, gardens, rehearsal rooms and ample parking. The Centre offers a full range of technical services, including a vast array of world-class lighting and sound equipment and operators, stage and production managers to ensure a seamless support service to users of the venues. Through the years, Artscape has developed a top-notch team of experts, consistently working at upskilling its staff.
The vision is clear from CEO, Marlene le Roux. The commitment to development of not only the arts through flagship rural outreach programmes, youth programmes and projects carefully curated for Heritage month, Women’s month and LGBTQIA+ projects, but also in its accessibility to patrons via training courses and workshops for staff.
“Artscape takes words like diversity and inclusivity and social cohesion very seriously,” says Le Roux. “It is too often a box that needs ticking at many places in South Africa. My objective is to never do that at Artscape. And, we are committed to being the foremost theatre venue in dealing with persons with disability and any other marginalised groups. This is something very close to my
heart,” says Le Roux. To this end, installed by the Western Cape Government, the hearing loop is an assistive listening system that provides access to facilities for those who experience hearing loss and use a hearing aid by taking a sound source and transferring it directly to a hearing aid without background noise, interference or acoustic distortion. “This way, the hearing impaired are now able to experience first-rate productions like any other patron,” explains Le Roux.
Artscape prides itself in being the foremost cultural hub in the city…a theatrical home for all. The City of Cape town is a melting pot of cultures, of communities, of ethnicities with 12 official languages. Imagine the array of activities one has to cater for in order to be accessible to all? Politics, beliefs and traditions are historically intertwined on Artscape’s stages. And, let us not forget the role Artscape plays in the development of younger people in our city and in our country – affording them opportunities (like the upcoming high school drama festivals, Youth Classical and Jazz Festival as well as its annual New Voices programme) that they might not otherwise have had.
Artists and theatre makers in the city have unique stories to tell – ones that span the gamut from struggle politics to modern-day scourges, and all in between.
In many ways the City of Cape Town and Artscape as the thea
re of choice, is the cultural hub of Africa.
Le Roux concludes by saying: “Resting on our laurels is not an option. The struggle to maintain and surpass the expectations of our patrons and to prove the significance and relevance of the arts in social cohesion, is a real one. Here’s to the next 54 years!”