By Nobuhle L. Ngema
On the 19th of March 2025, the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT), in collaboration with Soda World and the Dumisani Masilela Theatre (DTM), proudly announced the launch of the South Africa’s first-ever Smart Theatre. Supported by the City of Ekurhuleni and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, at the Dumisani Masilele Threatre, Germiston.
The partnerships began with Jessica Densychen, CEO of the Arts & Culture Trust, visiting Dumisani Masilele Threatre, and identified it as a valuable space with a lot of alignment strategically, and saw it fit with their niche as arts and culture trust to use technology to empower artists, that’s when she engaged other entities as well, to say they have developed in collaboration with Soda World and the South African Creative Industries Incubator, and want to build this ecology to empower artists.
Jessica said they used the launch as a showcasing moment to show what the impact of some of these technology could be, but also physically and literally showing it to the audience.
Sometimes people are afraid of new technology, she said. AI, for example. “And I think that people who remain fearful stands the risk of becoming quite redundant, whilst those who takes advantage of it, it really becomes an asset even on their CV’s. AI speeds up the work processes, the overflow. If we are feeling stuck – which we sometimes do – because of our human emotions, AI becomes an unlocking tool that helps us to bridge our own shortcomings and gaps.” she said. “And if we can see it that way, and use it that way, we’ll put ourselves in a much better position.” she added.
Jessica and partners are currently busy with high level discussions. The launch was just a pilot version of the program, in which they still need to prove the concept, the installation in the theatre, and also working with participants, and the impact on them. However, they are looking for long-term vision, which is to roll out nationally in multiple spaces, as well as to turn South African Arts & Culture into a powerhouse that can use technology to put their world first.
Jessica made it crystal clear that the beneficiaries of the program are artists, arts and culture practitioners.
“And we must remember that arts and culture practitioners have various interests and various modes of making up their salaries and running their businesses. So it does reach into other aspects of the arts, but at the core, we are serving artists so that they can be able to sustain themselves. Therefore, this is part of the IP training to understand how to leverage power of AI, what kind of platforms and technologies are available and how to apply them to use it to your advantage,” continues Jessica.
The success metrics of the launch, according to Jessica, would be unlocking further partnerships and being able to fund the second phase of the launch. And to truly reach more diverse artists.
“And if our artists from this cohort also continue the relationship with us to track the impact of how it transpires in their businesses over a period of time, not just in the program.”
They wanted to initially run the program from July last year, but there were quite a lot of technical aspects that they needed to get right to be able to carry on.
For more information, you can visit the Arts & Culture Trust office: Studio 37, 2 Sam Hancock St, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2000 from 08:00 am – 4:30 pm
Or contact: 010 023 0899
