21 November 2006

The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) will host an inaugural Beautiful Things Crafts Supermarket as part of the 50 th Anniversary of the Women’s March Celebrations. The event will be held at the Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria from 29 November to 03 December 2006. Mrs. Zanele Mbeki is the patron of the exhibition. The theme for the exhibition is “women participation and empowerment in the South African Craft Sector”. The Beautiful Things Crafts Supermarket of 2006 replaces the annual crafts imbizo as a special project to showcase and provide retail opportunities for South African crafters, particularly rural and women producers.

The event is the culmination of selection processes that will take place across the country to identify high quality and marketable crafts products. In order to ensure an integrated approach, national departments, provinces, local councils and other relevant organisations such as Media, Advertising, Publishing and Packaging Training Authority (MAPPSETA), Business Arts South Africa (BASA), and the private sector are part of the project.

The craft supermarket will be used to highlight training, business and career opportunities in the craft sector. A craft dialogue will be held to map out a strategic direction of the sector in line with the government programme of action and the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA). A coffee table publication on South African craft products will be produced and distributed to enhance the marketing efforts of crafters. Mrs. Mbeki will officially open the supermarket on 29 November 2006 Members of the media are invited to the opening ceremony of the supermarket. It is requested that journalists who are interested in attending the event RSVP by the end of business on 27 November 2006. The following information is required when confirming attendance: Full names; media company; ID/Passport no, and responsibility (writer, camera persons, photographer, etc).

Date : 29 November 2006
Time : 18: 50
Venue : Bryntirion Estate, Entrance: Gate 9, Church Street,
Arcadia, Pretoria,

RSVP : Patience Mogomotsi 082 600 5422/012 441 3083

Media enquiries: Mack Lewele on 082 450 5076
David Hlabane on 082 561 94 28

Programme: Opening

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