uMkhumbane Museum Memories

It takes a Community to raise – Tomorrow

Collaborative – Collective

Ubuntu – Together

…

A vision of the “uMkhumbane Cultural Place” complimenting the Cultural Renaissance Programme of the eThekwini Municipality.

uMkhumbane Cultural Place uses the idea of communal space to connect diverse people through open access to public services, by decentralizing cultural nodes. The master plan includes:

• a Cultural Park and Public Square
• dedicated space for Community Exhibitions
• gathering areas for Oral, Performance, Installation Exhibits
• Social gathering areas for functions, eg. book launches, festivals (film, writers, poetry, dance, music)
• Concession areas including a Traders Market
• Theatre as a multipurpose space
• Children’s Innovative facilities
• The Queen Thomo Memorial Site, is the final resting place of Quuen Thomozile Jezangani ka-Ndwandwe Zulu
• The Temporary Exhibition will finally occupy the tower : The museum will continuously change with prevalent topics,providing space which will allow for events associated with opening of new exhibitions.
• The Forced Removals Museum will narrate the past cultural and political struggle history of Cato Manor.
• Amphithatre: One of the points of collection for the community. It will allow the tradition of song and story to be expressed within. It will also offer a space for the community to practice and perfect their artistic trade.
• Mixed Use Building Pods: multi purpose spaces which can change and adapt to suit the needs of the community, eg restaurants, teaching spaces,offices and shops,which could support the UKZN’s outreach programmes
• Sculpture Gardens,embracing the Queen’s Memorial
• linking of the development to tour routes through the community and surroundings areas, thereby extending the innovative entrepreneur spirit from the “uMkhumbane Heritage Site ” through Cato Manor and Surroundings

The broader urban strategy aims to use technology and public space innovatively to access, network and enhance the culture, serving as a tool for community members to leverage in the co-creation of today’s uMkhumbane Culture. The stories of uMkhumbane in the 1940s were example of diversity and community during apartheid, Cato Manor today could provide much needed stories of regeneration and redress in South African in 2017.

uMkhumbane Cultural Place serves to activate a network of vibrant cultural, commercial and historical nodes in Cato Manor, re-affirming a community with rich historical, cultural and social assets to offer.