The Umkhumbane Schools Project is eager to support learning in the arts and humanities at our schools. Among the projects we have pursued, both on an ongoing basis and as funding is available, are the following:

Annual Youth Day History Festival

June 16th is Youth Day in South Africa, a public holiday dedicated to the memory of the brave youth who stood up to apartheid oppression in the Soweto Uprising of 1976. Since 2016, The Umkhumbane Schools Project has held its annual Youth Day History Festival on this day, to teach our learners the history behind the holiday and to give them a context in which to gather and celebrate the the promise and strength of youth in South Africa.

The Festival brings together youth from all five of our schools to celebrate their talents and their potential through musical performances, dance, poetry, and drama. In the weeks leading up to the Festival, learners from the Grade 10 History classes in all five schools prepare a history timeline to display at the event, while visual artists in our schools are invited to create a Youth Day art exhibition.

In 2019 we will host our Fourth Annual Youth Day History Festival, an amazing day of vibrant energy, community, and learning -- truly one of the highlights of our year.

Please click HERE if you would like to get involved!

After-School Art Club

During three diferent seasons since 2012, The Umkhumbane Schools Project has provide after-school art classes for small groups of very talented visual artists in our school. We have provided materials and instructors, and the learners have created two exhibitions as well as two lare mural wall-hangings on display in the lobby area of Wiggins Secondary School.

2019 is set to be a very exciting year for our art programming, as we partner with the Amasosha Art Project to bring high-quality, locally-rooted art instruction to our learners on an ongoing basis. Watch this space for more details.

Other Art and Humanities Projects

At various times the USP will provide support to one or another of our schools in their endeavor to bring a particular activity to their students. Examples from the past several years inculde our sponsorship of prizes and food for the Annual Speech Day event at Wiggins Secondary, a three-day Grade 8 English Language Games workshop during the July holidays, and support for learner participatioin the the annula Ethekwini Spelling Bee competition.