By Sabelo Seroke
The Durban University of Technology (DUT) held its inaugural arts festival at the DUT City Campus on 1 November 2024.
DUT’s Arts and Design Faculty hosted an exhibition and art show called Umbukiso wethu. The festival was organised by a committee consisting of students and lecturers from different departments of the Faculty of Arts and Design.
The exhibition featured art galleries, panel discussions and documentary screenings, with the highlight being a live concert of different local artists and students.
The Faculty of Arts and Design’s executive dean, Professor Jean Baxen, highlighted that the festival was aimed at fostering collaboration among students from various programmes.
“The initiative was created here on campus and the purpose of (it) was to have our undergraduates collaborate with (one another) and use the irrespective programmes to put together a project of this calibre. We hope that this project continues in the years to come and can shape our students’ skills of working together,” she said.
A Video Technology lecturer and lead organiser of the festival, Samuel Ntsanwisi, attributed the festival’s success to the collaborative efforts of students from various programmes.
He said: “I saw (envisioned) this in my head a long time ago. Look, for me, life is spiritual because God imparts these things to me. The students are going to say how everything was. They put everything together. I was just there to support them to execute this initiative.”
Andile Mdluli, a second-year Jewellery Design student, expressed his happiness at seeing his work displayed during Umbukiso wethu.
“I didn’t know we could work together with others (students) from Journalism and Video Technology (programmes). This proves that when people come together, a lot can be achieved,” he added.
Thando Mthethwa, a first-year Journalism student, said she enjoyed every aspect of the festival.
“I enjoyed every part of the show, including the panel discussion, which I thought was going to be boring. It turned out to be educational.”
The organisers expressed satisfaction with the festival’s attendance, adding that they plan to use this year’s event as a benchmark for the future ones.
