The Greatmore Studios celebrate 10 years By David Koloane

The post 94 era in South Africa was an optimistic period consumed by fervent quest for a new form of identity within the broader cultural sphere.
This optimism was further buoyed by the introduction of an arts and culture portfolio for the first time in the government.
The paradox however was that most of the informal art centers in the major centers of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town who were the custodians of culture during the apartheid era were grossly neglected to the extent some like the community project in Cape Town folded with all the illustrious history of resistance and the legendary artists it produced.
Other centers equally affected included the Nyanga, Fuba and the Open school in Johannesburg.
The historical Rorkesdrift in Kwazulu Natal defied numerous efforts of revival by various groupings.
The Thupelo art project initiated annual workshops from 1985-1991.
The workshops were convened in the Alpha training centre just outside Johannesburg.
The Thupelo workshop programme comprised participants from different t areas of the country and varied provinces as well.
The primary objective of this strategy was to encourage as many collectives as possible around the country with a view of initiating programmes relevant to specific areas.
As per example inspiring artists from the Venda , Limpopo area to bring together artists who work with wood or clay in a workshop situation.
Of all the regional components which participated in the workshops, it was the Cape Town group who were better organized and more effective as a unit.
It was not surprising that when the Johannesburg component decided to suspend the workshop programme in order to concentrate on the establishment of the collective studio concept popularly referred to as the Bag Factory, Cape Town immediately became the venue for the annual Thupelo workshop.
The Bag Factory formally known as the Fordsburg artists studios were launched in 1991 and the residency programme in 1997.
The Woodstock area in Cape Town was one of the notorious drug zones similar to Mitchell’s Plain and Mannenberg.
The Cape Town contingency comprised a committed group which included Velile Soha, Jill Trappler Lionel Davis and Garth Erasmus.
The Greatmore street studios have hosted some of the most innovative in its residency programme such as the late Billy Mandindi, Sophie Peters and Xolile Mtyakata.
In 1982 an event took place in Gaborone Botswana coordinated by the exiled Medu cultural ensemble of the then banned ANC Movement
The event was known as the culture and resistance conference attended by a variety of organizations political and liberation movements locally and internationally as well as as artists of all kinds of persuasions.
A number of significant resolutions were passed which had far reaching consequences.
These included the consensus that art should be employed as a weapon in the struggle against
apartheid and that artists should align themselves with various formations of solidarity with the
struggle.