MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture to unveil a Sol Plaatje bust and celebrate National Book Week at the William Humphreys Art Gallery
The single most important investment any country can make is in its people and therefore as part of a national effort to embrace the value of reading and the important role it plays in a nation's development, the national book week is held annually and this year it will be held from the 5 – 11 September 2016.
As part of the common national effort, the Provincial Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will do its utmost to create access to a rich and productive life for our youth and all our people. We will be engaging in various activities starting on the 05 September 2016, where we will be handing over books to the William Pescod High School as part of inculcating a culture of reading amongst our learners.
We will also be partnering the William Humphreys Art Gallery on an outreach to the Witput Grange School on the 06 September 2016 where books will be handed over to 120 learners from the school. On the 07 September 2016 in partnership with Radio XFM, a program will be held to promote the importance of reading in your home language with the community members of Platfontein.
What is important to note is that the books handed over to the learners at the respective schools is for them to keep and share it with their family and friends at home. The reason for this is for them to own a book and share it. Books in a home have a strong effect on the children’s attainment and as the power of improving imagination, increasing intelligence, boosting their brainpower, building vocabulary, increasing productivity, improving cultural diversity and social cohesion and also to economic empowerment and emancipation.
Therefore as the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture we embrace the idea of inculcating a culture of reading and library usage by reaching out to the broader community and specifically to the youth in terms of promoting libraries as an agent for change and development. By doing this we are deepening our democracy and helping to develop a people’s culture.
The pinnacle event will be held on the 8 September 2016 at the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley at 14h00 where the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture Ms Bongiwe Mbinqo Gigaba will be unveiling the Bust of Sol Plaatje.
The unveiling of the bust of Sol Plaatje will be preceded by an array of activities at the gallery which includes storytelling, toy libraries, word a thons and hip hop poetry for learners from identified pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. These activities will be taking place from 9h00 the morning on the 08 September 2016
The media is hereby invited to the William Humphreys Art Gallery on the 8 September 2016 to both the educational and developmental programmes in the morning as well as to the Unveiling of the Sol Plaatje Bust at 14h00.
Enquiries:
Conrad Fortune
Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 079 873 0679
E-mail: cfortune@ncpg.gov.za
