THE EDUCATION AFRICA
MARIMBA PROJECT
THE EDUCATION AFRICA
MARIMBA PROJECT
Education Africa was established in 1992 with the aim of creating Poverty alleviation through Education. Our varied programmes creatively focus on improving educational and cultural enrichment opportunities for South Africa’s most vulnerable populations with an aim of impacting whole communities. Some of these programmes include: a nationally accredited Early Childhood Development training programme for teachers; a high-performing low fee independent school, Masibambane College, in Orange Farm, and our multi-dimensional Marimba Project, consisting of our Marimba Hubs – an after-school music programme, our Live & Virtual International Marimba & Steelpan Festival, Sounds of Celebration social cohesion concert and the Alumni Internship Programme. Annually, our ongoing programmes reach an average of 3 300 individuals directly that primarily reside in township areas throughout the Gauteng, Northern Cape, North West, and Mpumalanga provinces as well as thousands more who participate in or attend our annual Sounds of Celebration concert and International Marimba & Steelpan Festival. Education Africa has 25 Marimba Hubs and 12 Preschool Marimba Hubs with over 2000 learners participating on a weekly basis during school terms in our programme.
Education Africa launched The International Marimba and Steelpan Festival in 2012 to create an awareness world-wide of the educational value of marimba playing and to create an international platform for our marimba and steelpan players in South Africa to perform on. As we are dedicated to giving our young children in South Africa the opportunity to travel and mix with young people from other parts of the world, we are hoping to develop our already extensive international network even further through this International Festival.
The Festival, which has become one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world, takes place annually in Johannesburg over a period of two days. It is fully inclusive and also caters for people with disabilities – blind, deaf, mentally and physically challenged – as well as people from all walks of life. Over a period of two days, marimba and steelpan bands get together to take part in various competitions divided into age sections and various categories. In addition to these competitions there are guest performances and workshops. Over 2300 musicians participated in the 2024 Festival, making it the largest festival of its kind in the world.
SOCIAL COHESION IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD
Social Cohesion is the cornerstone of what we do in all Education Africa’s projects and in particular in our Marimba Project. It drives us and motivates us to make a difference in our country and in the rest of the world. Young people are encouraged to play music together and interact and share knowledge through all our programmes and nowhere is it more evident than at the International Marimba and Steelpan Festival.
WHY STEELPANS AND MARIMBAS?
Many steelpan players play marimbas and vice versa and while the two types of instruments are totally different in layout, design and sound they complement each other beautifully when played together in ensemble. Steelpans as well as marimbas are played in many schools in South Africa as well as all around the world and it is wonderful to bring these two diverse traditional instruments together at our Festival.
VIRTUAL INTERNATIONAL MARIMBA AND STEELPAN FESTIVAL
Due to COVID-19 we created a Virtual Festival to temporarily replace the Live Festival to enable our beautiful Festival to continue. As a result, we made new contacts and friends around the world and are excited to have added a hybrid element to our Live Festival. If you are an international band or South African band that cannot travel to the Festival please consider entering our Online Categories to share in the magic of marimba and steelpan playing.
Awarded more than 3 758 scholarships through the Walter Sisulu Scholarship Fund; founded Masibambane College and impacting the lives of over 1 260 learners registered at the school each year; partnered with universities to build 19 preschools in South Africa through our Social Architecture project; established 36 Marimba Hubs throughout 4 provinces; arranged 15 International Arts & Culture tours for disadvantaged learners; achieved social cohesion at our 13 International Festivals and 10 Sounds of Celebration concerts; trained 274 caregivers through our ECD Skills Development Programme and an additional 255 educators in our nationally accredited training programme and are currently up-skilling 5 interns to become ECD trainers, through our Trainer Internship programme.
Kruger St, Boksburg,
Johannesburg, 1459
HISTORY
Founded in 1923 by Sister Rose Niland of the Dominican order, St. Dominic’s prides itself on its unmatched ethos, standards, ethics and the creation of the complete spiritual being.In all its years of existence St Dominic’s has always held its own, adapting to the challenges of an ever-changing educational, political, technological and social environment. Yet, the School has never compromised its Catholic ethos and core values. Religious and moral values are given special emphasis in the curriculum, and Christian Catholic values pervade the atmosphere and ethos of the school. The non-racial, multi-cultural education offered enables pupils to enrich, refine and broaden their education without losing their own roots.
ETHOS, VISION & MISSION
The philosophy of St Dominic’s is to create an ethos of learning where the growth and development of the whole person is a priority. The school believes that the potential of each pupil is realised in an environment where space is provided for the creative expression of the individual. St Dominic’s strives to provide a community environment where one can witness the Gospel Values, especially the values of justice, love, truth and respect for the dignity of each person.
MUSIC DEPARTMENT
St. Dominic’s music department continues to grow under the leadership of multi-talented Neville Smith, internationally acclaimed opera singer, teacher and conductor. The school boasts a rock band, an orchestra, two choirs, steel bands and marimba bands. The bands perform in various competitions and festivals including the annual International Marimba and Steel Band Festival, and the Sounds of Celebration Concerts. Music is encouraged and plays an important role in the culture of our school.
We offer personalised tours of our facilities. Applications are accepted throughout the year and are available for download on our website www.stdominicsboksburg.co.za
A limited number of scholarships are awarded each year.
Please contact us for details – marketing@stdominics.co.za
