ABOUT

The Windybrow Arts Centre, as the Pan African centre of the Arts, stands as a Heritage house celebrated for its 122-year reign in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the dense Hillbrow inner city land scape. One of the last monuments from the height of the Johannesburg goldrush, the Windybrow Arts Centre was built by mining engineer Theodore Reneurt. The architectural splendour of this glory day has been refurbished to its original lustre, it opens to the community of Hillbrow as a Pan African centre of the arts with the hopes of igniting a vibrant love for Pan African theatre and the Arts in the community of Hillbrow.

One essential ideal of Pan Africanism is the celebration of African and the diaspora. In the Arts and Culture sector this creates an opportunity to celebrate the cultural identities of the diverse cultures of the continent and the diaspora. In this case the Windybrow is flawlessly situated to embrace this opportunity. Embedded in the capital of Pan Africanism in Johannesburg, Hillbrow is an internal port for number of migrators from the continent, creating an opportunity to tap into the cultural wealth peppered in the avenues of the inner city.

Hillbrow, much like New York and Paris has the ability to become a melting pot of colour and diversity. In the informal spaces of the Johannesburg city, one finds Congolese, Kenyans, Malawians, Zimbabweans and more side by side in vibrant trade. Walking down Albertina Sisulu, one can have a taste of West African food and travel to the East in the Ethiopian dishes and relish in the taste of the South all in one day.

Together with the community of the area we hope to create lasting programmes that reflect the heritage of the inner city and also allow, through art, ourselves opportunities that empower our youth with knowledge systems that will expand their horizons and empower their vision.