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By Bhekizenzo Zonele
Wits University is investing R341 million in a new cultural precinct in Braamfontein as part of efforts to open its arts and cultural facilities to the wider Johannesburg community.
The precinct will bring together existing and new arts, performance and heritage facilities, including the Wits Art Museum, Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, Digital Arts building and additional facilities for the Wits School of Arts.
Plans include expanded music and fine arts facilities, new exhibition spaces, a theatre amphitheatre and upgrades to the Wits Theatre Complex.
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The five-year development project is also expected to contribute to the regeneration of Johannesburg’s inner city.
Wits Vice-Chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi said the project was intended to strengthen the university’s relationship with the city.
“The Cultural Precinct is about opening Wits to Johannesburg and creating spaces where students, artists, scholars and the public can meet, create and exchange ideas,” Vilakazi said.
A major donation from Wits alumnus Chris Seabrooke, through the Seabrooke Family Trust, will fund most of the estimated R341 million capital cost, with Wits contributing the balance.
Seabrooke, who completed his MBA at Wits in 1985, said the investment was intended to create a cultural space that would benefit Johannesburg beyond the university community.
“The arts have an extraordinary ability to bring people together and to change the character of a place,” he said.
The Wits Foundation will have the right to sell the donated shares through block trades or on the market over the estimated five-year period of the project to provide funding for the development.
The precinct will be embedded within the Faculty of Humanities and Wits School of Arts and will incorporate disciplines including digital arts, film and television, fine arts, music, theatre and performance, Drama for Life, cultural policy and visual cultures.
Wits said the development forms part of its broader efforts to make its cultural, heritage, scientific and sporting assets more accessible to the public.
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The project comes as Johannesburg seeks to revitalise its inner city and attract greater cultural, creative and economic activity.
The precinct will form part of a wider Johannesburg cultural network that includes the Joburg Theatre, Market Theatre, Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and Constitutional Court.
Jozi My Jozi CEO Innocent Mabusela welcomed the development, describing it as a potential contribution to the city’s broader renewal efforts.
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