The Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, said: "The festival has become one of the main events in the city's calendar. It's a great opportunity to experience our rich diversity in the arts and music. I want to encourage everyone to take this opportunity to attend and share in this experience."
Echoing this call to ensure the event embraces as many people as possible and remains 'Africa's Grandest Gathering' and is accessible to all is much of the reason CTIJF pioneers the free community concert. PRASA (The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa), a generous funder and supporter of espAfrika's CTIJF free community concert, will provide free trains on selected main lines.
Lucky Montana, Group CEO of PRASA, said: "PRASA provides free Metrorail services for communities in and around the Cape Metropole so they can take part in the free concert before the main festival. They join the many people who travel from every corner of the country on our Autopax buses and long-distance rail services (Shosholoza Meyl) to attend the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) and, for more than a decade now, the response from revellers has been phenomenal. PRASA is therefore proud to be the official transport partner of the CTIJF."
More, than a community concert, this free event has become as much a part of the fabric of the CTIJF as the festival itself, forming part of the festival's Sustainable Training and Development (T&D) programme. These workshops and programmes are sponsored by the City of Cape Town, the Department of Arts and Culture, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) through the South Atlantic Arts and Culture Trust, Schweppes, Independent Media, PRASA, CCID, Cape Town Partnership in association with Heart104.9 FM. espAfrika will notify the public about road closures around Greenmarket Square well before the concert.
The following routes will operate free train services departing between 3pm and 5pm and returning from Cape Town at 11.30pm:
• Cape Town to Heathfield (Cape Flats);
• Cape Town to Khayelitsha via Kapteinsklip (Central Line);
• Cape Town to Bellville.
