Professor Elizabeth OehrleFlagship music project UKUSA faces challenges. (Column by William Charlton-Perkins, republished courtesy of The Mercury)
A leading cultural development initiative in Durban may have to close down due to financial constraints.
It is dismaying to learn from renowned university music educator Professor Elizabeth Oehrle that UKUSA, Durban’s flagship community arts music initiative, the longest running and one of most successful venture of its kind in South Africa, may have to close soon due to lack of finance.
Oehrle, who is the founder and co-ordinator of this massive community project, explains that UKUSA (meaning ‘a new dawn’) was born in 1987 during one of the worst periods of internal strife and bloodshed in apartheid history. It was a time of desperation for many young South Africans.
“UKUSA began as a small local arts outreach project with 50 students and three teachers, operating out of a dilapidated shed at the old Durban Station. The aim was to offer a space to township youth to explore their artistic talents.”
In 1989 Professor Christopher Ballantine, then head of music at UKZN, invited UKUSA to move onto the campus where it has remained ever since, bringing the University untold credibility on the international development front over the years.
UKUSA’s staff has since increased to 20 and student numbers to more than 200 annually. The programme assists students 16 years and older who show willingness to work, ability in the creative arts, and a desire to share what they have learned with others in their communities. It also serves as a bridging programme for students interested in studying at the School of Music. A number of Ukusa students have gone on to complete degrees at UKZN and other universities and places of Higher Learning.
Famous UKZN music alumni who gained their first teaching experiences at UKUSA include leading academics such as Phelelani Mnomiya, Nishlyn Ramanna, and Mageshen Naidoo, to name just three among a host of others.
More than 8,000 students have attended UKUSA over the past 25 years, coming from all over greater Durban and as far afield as Ulundi, Port Shepstone and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. UKUSA students have gone on to achieve their dreams in careers of their choice and now initiate and run Community Youth Arts Programmes in their own communities.
Currently on offer are courses in music theory (Grades 1-5), maskanda, saxophone, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, trumpet, and keyboard. Students bring their own instruments. Concerts enable students to enjoy performing, and deserving students are awarded Certificates of Merit at the end of the year. Until 2010 drama and movement were also included, but lack of funds necessitated a temporary closure of both.
Anyone able to offer UKUSA financial assistance can contact Prof Oehrle at oehrle@ukzn.ac.za or call 031 209 5895. – William Charlton-Perkins
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