Cultural Affairs and Sport
Whether her Department funded any heritage events during the (a) 2015/16 financial year and (b) to date for the current financial year; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The programmes embarked upon by the department are done in collaboration with the municipality and local communities.
The departmental Heritage Day programme for the 15/16 financial year was held at the Vicky Zimri Thusong Centre in Citrusdal. The programme was a display of intergenerational sharing of traditions through dance and promoted respect for and appreciation of the diversity of communities.
For the 16/17 financial year the departmental Heritage day programme was facilitated in Clanwilliam and involved various cultural groups from the surrounding communities. It was a showcase of various cultural dances and practices depicting various cultures through their traditional dance and attire.
Through Heritage Western Cape, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport funded the Wiki Loves Monument project, an initiative of Wikipedia. This project’s aim was to upload Western Cape’s heritage sites and monuments to Wikipedia in order to promote them to the world. Ordinary citizens were invited to take photographs of heritage buildings and monuments with full biographical information and submit them to Heritage Western Cape. It involved a competition whereby Wikipedia South Africa awarded prizes to best photographers. The sponsorship amount was for R15 000. Through this project Heritage Western Cape has been able to enhance its database of heritage resources with high quality photographic material with the right to use them in the future. These were uploaded to Wikipedia.
