This dynamic session spotlights creative evolution emerging beyond traditional urban centres. Through fast-paced PechaKuchas and lightning talks, speakers share insights from township theatres, rural craft collectives, digital cooperatives, maritime storytelling, and sustainable fashion networks. Each presentation offers a glimpse into how artists, educators, and entrepreneurs are building new creative systems from the ground up. Together, these case studies, from Bathurst to Johannesburg, from the oceans economy to online marketplaces, highlight the resourcefulness of communities advancing inclusion through collaboration, local knowledge, and adaptive design. Towards New Centres reframes the periphery not as a place of limitation, but as a laboratory for circular value creation and community-grounded development.
Lightning Talks (10 min each)
Pecha Kucha (6 min 40 sec each)
Convenor: Dr Lauren England — Senior Lecturer, King’s College London, United Kingdom
- Annette Loubser — Independent Visual Arts Educator & Project Manager, South Africa
Rooted Futures: Reimagining Craft, Culture, And Community In Rural South Africa
- Bongani Nicholas Ngomane — Dramaturge, South African State Theatre
Illogical ≥ Logical: Reimagining Creative Economies Through Public Performance Ethnography In South African Townships
- Mammatli Thakhuli-Nzuza — Founders, Creative Industries Marketing Stokvel, South Africa (V)
Stokvel in Arts – Exploring an African Resource Mobilisation Model for Independent Arts Producers in Post-COVID South Africa
- Dr Lauren England — Senior Lecturer, King’s College London, United Kingdom
Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: The Maker-Manufacturing Nexus as Development Pathway
- George Gabriel — Founder ILALI, South Africa
ILALI: A Cooperative Platform for Building Inclusive and Sustainable Creative Economies through Extramural Learning
- Likhona Nqunqa — Research Associate & Odwa Mtati — Chief Executive Officer, South African International Maritime Institute
The Role of Creative Expressions in Advancing Oceans Economy
- Dr Mariapaola McGurk — Programme Lead & Lecturer, Master of Business Innovation & Leadership, Faculty of Art and Design, Whitecliffe College, New Zealand (V)
A Systems Thinking Approach to Growing the Cultural and Creative Industries of Johannesburg
Q&A
