ReplicART
A First in South Africa: Mobile Art Experience
We started with paper copies on cardboard, held up by chairs; we then bought our first few canvases and have visited 4 schools in the Southern Suburbs, and 4 underprivileged schools in Khayelitsha and Nyanga.
South Africa is a very young country, and what I mean is that our history does not go as far as most of the rest of the world’s countries do. Because of our position at the tip of Africa (far away from Europe- the locus of historic art) and our economic fiascos, which ensures a very weak currency, the majority of South Africans are unable to afford international travel and visit museums in Spain or England to see an historic and original piece of art. This is a massive shame, as Art is an extremely important part of human development, and has a significant influence on human beings cognitive interpretations. It has been academically proven to be able to influence decisions and persona.
This is where we come in! As a means to bypass the impracticalities involved in acquiring, transporting and getting the cooperation of parents to give permission to take learners to galleries in Cape Town, or even travel abroad to where the actual priceless pieces are exhibited, we offer schools a new approach to field trips. Galleries are boring to children; we offer exhibitions exclusively for them! ReplicART offers presentations where we exhibit great works of international art such as those found at iconic museums around the world, so that the average South African may have the opportunity to experience them first-hand. We cover different themes, and currently we are presenting the ’Most expensive paintings in the world’, ‘Most famous paintings in the world’, and we have future plans to incorporate more paintings that are specifically required in the CAPS curriculum. Paired with an interactive presentation with questions bouncing between presenters and children, and a strategic problem solving art activity at the end, we provide ‘The Ultimate Mobile Gallery Experience’.
Learning is so book-based and systematic these days, this squashes creativity and innovation. By inspiring from visions of the past, we hope to create a vision for the future: two forms of leaders. The first through training of unemployed women and men who have a fire for public speaking and recognise the potential of South Africa’s youth; and the second form of leader through children- as forward thinkers, ready to think up creative solutions to everyday problems with strategic art activities and progressive learning through our presentations.
We believe that action is inspired by the majority, creating forward thinking starts with the youth, but what use is going to the minority of privileged schools who pay a fee to ReplicART which enable us to peform our service, when the majority who need inspiration are not being reached? This is why ReplicART seeks to operate by the principal of ‘1/1’, visiting an underprivileged school for free, for every privileged school we exhibit at. This was easier when we still operated with cardboard based works. We now have canvas paintings which are less flexible and need to be cared for. A ‘Corsa lite’ cannot be our mode of transport any longer… In order to inspire minds, we need to mobilize our service easily. We also have running costs like stationery used in art activities and petrol needed to get to schools.
Our proposal is to buy a horsebox, fit it with a mechanism that can house our paintings, and brand it. We intend to brand the sides with ReplicART’s logo, and the whole back side of it with our sponsors and contributors.
This will enable us to be more active around the Western Cape! Besides transport, we would like to raise enough funds to train 2 presenters, and to pay for 10 exhibitions at 5 schools in Khayelitsha.
Milestones
Milestone 1 – R8 000
The Tipping Point – If we reach this, our project is A-go!
● This will help us secure a second-hand horsebox (trailer) that we need as transportation for our beautiful paintings!
Milestone 2 – R12 000
● We will fit our trailer with customized ‘shelves’ to hold our paintings!
● Our paintings will be kept safe and beautiful when we deliver them to smiley students!
Milestone 3 – R20 000
● This would be amazing! This would give us the opportunity to turn our horsebox into a piece of art with giant branding on either side of the horse box.
● We will also brand the back of our horsebox with our 3 biggest backers as a way to say THANK YOU.
● For every R1000 over this target, we will go to an additional underprivileged school where we can make an inspirational difference in the lives of the children we teach.
Support ReplicART
Buy Rewards and share the crowdfunding campaign: www.thundafund.com/ReplicART