The Tourism, Culture, Heritage and Museums sub-directorate is responsible for identifying and facilitating infrastructural development necessary for key tourism, cultural and heritage sites in Nelson Mandela Bay. The sub-directorate also provides funding for cultural events and coordinates training programmes aimed at capacitating tourism and cultural practitioners.
- The establishment of a number of heritage sites.
- Rendering assistance, in a variety of forms, to over 100 local artists and crafters.
- A highlight was the establishment of an arts and crafts centre in Uitenhage.
- The consolidation of the Freedom Trail Project as a tourist attraction.
- The upgrading of the Langa Memorial.
- The computerisation of six municipal libraries.
- The implementation of a number of programmes targeting children from disadvantaged areas.
- The implementation of a number of programmes promoting the culture of reading and writing.
Red Location Museum of Struggle
Cnr. Olaf Palme & Singaphi Street, Red Location, New Brighton.
Tel: 041 408 8400
Talking of magnificent, on 10 November 2006, the Municipality launched the multi-award- winning Red Location Museum of Struggle in New Brighton. This Museum will play a crucial role in the political and historical consciousness of South Africans and is fast becoming a “must-see” on the itinerary of both domestic and international visitors.
Built primarily as a tribute to the liberation struggle against apartheid, this “museum with a difference” embraces love, reconciliation and hope for the future amongst its aims. Its unconventional stark but spacious structure – architect Joe Noero has incorporated the corrugated iron theme of informal settlement living in his design – includes a series of ‘memory boxes” consisting of 12 lofty free-standing galleries that house a diversity of photographic and art exhibitions. A further five arrangements of montages, timelines and modules detailing the history of the township, its people and their place in the bid for liberty, line the walls.