There are several cultural
influences at work in Cape Town, which makes the city a predominantly
interesting one for the arts. Like several other South African cities,
Cape Town has tolerated a turbulent cultural ride
over the past decade, as the cultural voice of the city has gradually
made itself heard over the clamour of inequality and long standing
prejudices. The large cultural organisations so reminiscent of the
past have successfully expanded and everywhere small projects and
artistic developments pop up to thrill and entertain all manner
of culture vultures, poetry readings, hilarious
comedy acts, art exhibitions,
large scale operas, and intimate theatre
performance can all be found in numerous venues. Cape Town is growing
daily as a culturally rich and varied city.
Cape Town’s 2 biggest contributions to South African culture
have almost certainly been in the fine arts and
in the unique Cape jazz style, epitomised by musicians
like Basil ‘Manenberg’ Coetzee, Abdullah Ibrahim and
Robbie Jansen.
The city’s 2 major cultural centres are:
The Baxter Theatre Centre
Address: Main Road, Rondebosch
Telephone: (021) 685 7880
Facsimile: (021) 689 1880
Website address: www.baxter.co.za
The Artscape Theatre Centre
Address: 1–10 DF Malan Street, Foreshore
Telephone: (021) 410 9800 or 421 7839
Facsimile: (021) 421 5448
Email address: artscape@artscape.co.za
Website address: www.artscape.co.za
All major cultural events can be booked through
Computicket
(telephone: (083) 915 8000, email address: info@computicket.com).
Tickets for Artscape events are available through Artscape Dial-A-Seat
(telephone: (021) 421 7695).
Listings information
can be found in the Friday editions of the daily press, The Cape
Times and Cape Argus. These are both subsidiaries of The Independent
and listings also can be found online.
The bi-monthly Cape Etc and monthly SA Citylife publications are
brilliant sources of information and listings for Cape Town’s
nightlife. The Mail
& Guardian also has cultural listings for Cape Town.
Other websites with listings include www.capetowntoday.co.za,
www.artthrob.co.za,
and www.ananzi.co.za.
A good online events guide is www.capetownevents.co.za.
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