Non-profit digital training centre lands partnership with FAME Week

Film, arts, media and entertainment event FAME Week Africa, which is taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) next week, has partnered with iKasi Creative Media, a non-profit committed to training rural youth in audio-visual and digital media.

Taking place from Wednesday August 24 to Friday August 26, FAME Week Africa aims to bring together co-related events focusing on the major creative economies of film, television and animation as well as music and entertainment technology.

The event also aims to be a space for African creatives to engage and network with like-minded people, turning opportunities into businesses.

The event hosts meetings, screenings, talks and content sessions.

Marketing, content and creative director of FAME Week Africa, Martin Hiller, said the event provides a platform for African creatives to fast track their careers through conversations, networking and learning.

He said the partnership with iKasi will highlight the incredible work that the youth were doing in the film, television and multimedia space.

"(This) also provides their creative content creators with the opportunity to connect, be inspired and be part of important conversations. We look forward to growing this partnership.”

iKasi Creative Media, which have offices in George and Bellville, was started in 2016 by Lika Berning and Lamise Inglis, with an aim to open up opportunities for rural youth to tell stories through digital media.

Founding director Ms Berning said iKasi Creative Media is a non-profit training provider for digital media.

“We know that digital media tells a story and gives a voice to a generation. Moving pictures have taken on a whole new dimension, and all the opportunities that moving pictures give people nowadays are endless, so we reach out with our content creator programmes to bring access to youth, especially the unemployed.”

Ms Berning, who is from George, said iKasi Creative Media was started because she saw a huge gap, in the sense that she was a young, white creative, and her peers didn’t have the same opportunities as her. “The legacy of apartheid has driven communities and creatives to work in bubbles, and we needed to break those barriers.”

She said iKasi Creative Media runs accredited workshops facilitated by creatives in the industry, and is funded by Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA), as well as stipends and sometimes from the business community.

She said the iKasi team reaches out to communities to create awareness of the programme, and interested parties register with them, then go on a waiting list.

“When we raise enough funds to put someone through a course, we contact them and have them enrolled.”

Once there are enough students for a workshop, they take the pupils on a boot camp to familiarise themselves with the environment.

She said the workshops, programmes and courses are accredited at NQF level.

While their target market is mostly youth from the Garden Route, East Coast, West Coast and Eastern Cape, where they have networks which create awareness of their services, Ms Berning said this was merely to breach the gap.

Asked how the stories coming from rural youth were different to stories from youth closer to the city, she said: “I almost think there is no difference. The stories are not unique to a rural area, but it may not have been heard if we had not reached out.

“It’s not so much the area, it’s about who tells the stories, and we are trying to be as inclusive as possible.”

Ms Berning said when they had seen the news of FAME week, they knew they had to be there and were interested in getting a stall, however, when they pitched their organisation to FAME Week programme directors, they were invited as a CSI. “We are very excited.”

She said being at FAME week will benefit the organisation as it is a huge gathering of creatives and experts in the media industry. They also wanted to engage corporations about funding so that they can put as many youth through the programmes as possible.

“Via iKasi, our youth have a doorway to this life.”

She said at FAME week, they will be playing the pupils’ short films, which will expose them to the industry and also spark conversations about the value of the voices of those telling the stories.

They will have an information stand, and an ex-pupil Chad Louw will be presenting a talk on the value of creative media skills to small town and rural youth.

One of the facilitators, Natalie Delport, will also be giving a talk on using neuro-linguistic programming.

They will also be doing a raffle to raise funds, where people could win prizes, including accommodation to the dorpies, because “we want people to come out and produce work in our areas.”

To find out more about iKasi Creative media, or to get involved, visit ikasimedia.com

For more information about FAME WEEK, visit www.fameweekafrica.com