The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) has announced details of its Constructus Masterclass 2012 and has invited small local creative enterprises to participate.

The Contructus Masterclass, an annual event, was started last year, in an effort to support local majority black-owned creative entrepreneurs and transform the local industry. Respected industry leaders are invited to impart their knowledge to creative start-ups in a setting that is stimulating and interactive.

Following on the success of last year’s event, The Constructus Masterclass of 2012 is themed around the concept of RECOLONIZE.

“We wanted to be provocative. Colonization is such a one-dimensional topic in Africa, so we re-appropriated its symbols and gave them new meaning. It’s about how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. It’s an open-ended statement about African creatives taking over the world – a futuristic-meets-historic clash. We got a great team together to create something iconic. We’re not quite sure what we’ve created, but it’s pretty trippy,” explained the creative team responsible for pulling the initiative together, Batandwa Alperstein and Karabo Makenna.

The speakers this year are:

• Ravi Naidoo, MD of Interactive Africa;
• Khaya Dlanga, writer, blogger and Senior Communication Manager at Coca-Cola Africa;
• Andile Khumalo, CIO of MGS Afrika Investment Holdings;
• Anthony and Bradley Abrahams, founders of 2bop and winners of The Constructus Award 2011;
• Gordon Cook, co-founder of Vega, School of Brand Leadership;
• and Spoek Mathambo, musician and graphic artist.

Following the speakers, workshops will be run by Ross Chowles, Kevan Aspoas and Graham Warsop, co-founders of The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town), which will allow participants the opportunity to interact, collaborate and build on ideas.

Participants will then be invited to submit a proposal on how they intend on growing their business, using insights gained from the workshops. The proposal that is deemed the most insightful and workable, will be awarded a substantial grant to invest in their business, and will have access to the leadership team of The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) as mentors.

“We hope to help transform Cape Town’s creative industry and build on a culture of innovation and creative entrepreneurship. We know that our city has no shortage of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. We wanted to work with small enterprises to develop this, so that they could turn big ideas into practical business models and creative solutions into entrepreneurial reality,” commented Claire Cobbledick, Managing Director at The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town).

Last year the Constructus Award was awarded to 2bop, a local streetwear brand. They used their grant to grow their business by attending and exhibiting at the Bread & Butter fashion trade expo in Berlin in July 2012 for the first time, resulting  in tangible business growth.

The Constructus Masterclass of 2012 will take place at The Castle of Good Hope from 3-5 December. Interested participants can find out more and apply online at www.constructus.co.za before 26 November.

Participation at the workshop is free, but places are extremely limited, so early booking is essential.

CREDITS

Executive Creative Director: Ross Chowles
Creative Directors: Jonathan Beggs, Joanne Thomas, Andrew Lang
Account Director:  Joanne von Maltitz
Account Management: Nabeelah Sayed
Traffic: Sarah Pillay, Janet Baird
Copywriter: Batandwa Alperstein
Art Directors: Karabo Makenna, Hayley De Vantier
Retoucher: Holmes
Art Buying: Mandy Hendler
Video Production:  Kim-Lara King
Stylist/Producer: BEE Diamondhead
Photographers: Kope|Figgins
Hair & Make-up:  Nandi Fourie
Videographer: Eeb Hajee, Offbeat Productions
Web Developer: Jim Nicholson