Creative Uprising Hub to support creative industries and entrepreneurship

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Globally creative hubs are increasingly becoming a platform or workplace for artists, musicians, designers, filmmakers, app developers, or startup entrepreneurs.

Creative hubs recognise that creativity is often the product of social encounters and that creative practice is not confined to galleries, artist studios or cultural institutions. They foster new forms of making, learning and trading that can take advantage of new technologies while still recognising the value of expertise and craft skills.

Components of the Creative Uprising Programme include:

• The Flame Recording Studios
  
• The Transwerke Studios
  
• The Basha Uhuru Festival
  
• The Movement Store
  
• The Curated Makers Market
  
• The Creative Uprising Network
  
• Transwerke Studios

The Creative Hub has been designed with the intent to foster innovation and economic development by promoting creativity, digitalisation and knowledge sharing.

The Creative Support Programmes focus on the key areas of product development; enterprise support and market access as well as social and networking events.

The Hub also offers creative micro businesses the chance to aggregate with others to access crucial resources such as tools, specialist services, and inspiration to help develop projects and businesses stand out from their competitors.

The Department of Economic Development, Gauteng Growth and Development Agency and Constitution Hill are inaugurating Transwerke Studios as an important component of the Creative Hub. The need for affordable and accessible working spaces for creatives and enterprises, particularly in townships and under-resourced communities is dire.

The facilities are located within the historical Queen Vic building on the Constitution Hill precinct in the heart of Johannesburg and include 63 studios varying in size.

The building is a heritage-listed four-storey block of apartments that stood empty for over 15 years. It has been developed to support creative entrepreneurs and provides the following spaces:

• Visual Art Studios - Spaces suited to a range of visual arts, photography and design enterprises.
  
• Maker Spacers - Spaces for designer makers across all disciples to create their work, focusing on the hand-made, where designer-makers can create and learn by sharing tools, knowledge, space and experience
  
• Designer Studios - Spaces occupied by fashion and graphic designers
  
• Gallery Spaces - Suitable for the exhibition of artwork
  
• Rehearsal Spaces - Spaces used for theatre, performance and music rehearsals
  
• Residency Spaces - Spaces offered for a fixed period as part of a residency program to enable artists to work full-time

Currently, there are 64 creative SMMEs housed in studio spaces on the three renovated floors. Development for micro-creative enterprises is provided through physical support such as Wi-Fi, low-cost studio space, access to the computer lab and networking sessions.

Several creative industry support organisations are also located in the hub.

These include:

• The South African Creative Industries Incubator
  
• Animation SA
  
• The Craft and Design Institute
  
• Maxum Digital
  
• Techsprung
  
• ArtAid
  
• Arts and Culture Trust
  
• IKS & Concerts SA