In 1998, Cape Town was filled with intolerance. The Planet Hollywood restaurant at the Waterfront had been bombed in August that year, people were being assassinated because of their religious and political beliefs, and drive-by shooting and pipe-bomb attacks were happening on a regular basis. There were visible tensions between Muslims and Jews, Muslims and Christians, blacks and whites, rich and poor.
Ryland Fisher, then Editor of the Cape Times, felt that there are times when newspapers need to do more than act as a mirror on society. Sometimes newspapers need to play a leadership role in society, and this was one of those occasions.
He consulted a range of political, religious and business leaders on the need to launch a “One City, Many Cultures” campaign through the Cape Times. The aim of this campaign would be to promote a more tolerant, a more diverse and a more integrated city of Cape Town. At one breakfast, at the Mount Nelson Hotel, several of the leading business people in the city – including Raymond Ackerman and Christo Wiese – agreed to contribute financially to this campaign. Both their supermarket chains became supporters of the “One City, Many Cultures” campaign, something that was unheard of before or after this campaign.
Fisher also consulted the then Mayor of Cape Town, Nomaindia Mfeketo, who agreed to support the campaign. A committee made up of representatives of the city and Independent Newspapers, owners of the Cape Times, was established to drive this campaign. The Mayor became a Patron of the campaign. Later, the Premier and the Minister of Arts and Culture also became Patrons.
It was agreed that the campaign would be editorially driven but that the editorial content would be supported by strong public events.
The campaign was launched at the civic centre on 1 March 1999 with President Nelson Mandela as the guest speaker. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who was recovering from colon cancer at Emory University in Atlanta, sent a video-recorded message in which he said that Fisher was “crazy” to launch such a campaign in Cape Town.
President Mandela said that “the rebirth of our nation also requires a slow learning process in which we come to identify the values we share as a nation and respect those of others”.
As part of the “One City, Many Cultures” campaign, the Cape Times dedicated two broadsheet pages for twelve weeks to explore and highlight issues such as birth, growing up, coming of age, weddings and other cultural practices. All articles were illustrated with colourful and expressive photography, showing how much Capetonians had in common despite their perceived differences. The editorial project culminated in the “One City Festival” which was held on 24 September 1999, National Heritage Day. The editorial coordinator for the project was Jennifer Crocker, an assistant editor at the Cape Times while the photographic coordinator was the late Garth Stead. Beryl Eichenberger, who had been promotions manager at Independent Newspapers Cape, worked on the project fulltime to coordinate all its promotional activities.
The initial “One City, Many Cultures” project also included an essay competition aimed at high school learners and a photographic competition which had a professional and amateur component. Part of the competition involved aspirant photographers working with established photographers.
For most of 1999 Fisher spoke throughout the city at various platforms about “One City, Many Cultures”. The venues where he spoke included mosques, synagogues, churches, community halls and educational institutions, and culminated in a speech in front of more than 7 000 delegates at the Parliament of the World’s Religions at the Good Hope Centre in December 1999.
The “One City, Many Cultures” campaign inspired several other initiatives in Cape Town such as the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, the “Table of Unity” and the “Home for All” campaign which was run by the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.
It became clear, from the immense public support for all “One City, Many Culture” initiatives, that this campaign was what was needed in assisting the fight against intolerance and the growth of intercultural understanding. For this reason a non-profit Section 21 Company, the One City Events Company, was formed in 2000 with the aim of taking forward the initial vision of the “One City, Many Cultures” project. The core business of this entity was to drive projects which would bring about social change through creating platforms for cultural expression.
In 2003, the City of Cape Town, as a key partner to the festival initiated a name change for the flagship event from the One City Festival to the Cape Town Festival. At this time a General Manager was appointed with the aim of growing the event. The following three years saw the Cape Town Festival grow exponentially with the inclusion of Comedy, a Children’s programme, a Street Festival and Classical Concerts. It also included a variety of performing arts productions and venues. By 2007, the Cape Town Festival had grown almost unrecognisable and included almost 70 venues, 120 productions over three weeks with no clear emphasis placed on the “One City, Many Cultures” ethos. In fact, the festival had become just another festival on the South African landscape.
Taking into consideration the waning success of the event and its dilluted event focus, the Cape Town Festival board asked Fisher to take up the helm as Executive Chairperson. The board further decided to refocus the festival in line with its original mandate, to restrict its activities to a central precinct and to refocus it to focus on music as social force. The decision was taken to abandon the performing arts component of the festival because it was well catered for by festivals in other towns and cities.
As the founder of the 1999 endeavour Fisher agreed to become Executive Chair and proceeded to restaff the festival office.This strategic realignment paid dividends in 2009. The 10th anniversary celebration of the Cape Town Festival is billed as the most successful to date, with audience attendance figures estimated in excess of 32 000 people.
The 2010 event was almost as successful with only slightly smaller attendance despite opposition from a range of new and competing events.
We are fortunate that we have been able to go back to the roots of the “One City, Many Cultures” project this year and that we have been able to arrange range of events that speak to our original mission and vision.
