With the curtain coming down on another busy year in Joburg, the globally renowned AfroPunk Festival is due to wrap up the festive season as the city’s preeminent festive event for 2018. The festival is an exuberant, creative and diverse outpouring of live music, film, fashion, art and craft and a variety of food stalls produced by locals and attended by tens of thousands of festival goers.
Taking place at Constitution Hill on 30 and 31 December 2018 for the second year, the festival features an impressive line-up of 26 live acts from artists including Kwesta, Public Enemy and The Internet. As a strategic partner, Joburg Tourism is hosting the Joburg AfroPunk Market (Bites & Beats and Spinthrift) during the two day festival at Constitution Hill.
“We’re thrilled to be involved in hosting the event in Joburg, as it will boost the City’s tourism industry across the tourism value chain,” says Thandubuhle Mgudlwa (Director: Tourism). This includes benefits to accommodation establishments, tourist attractions, restaurants, shopping and transport. This is in anticipation of visitors who are expected to travel to Johannesburg from around the globe and locally, to attend the festival during the festive season.”
Attracting some 20 000 festivalgoers, in 2017, Afropunk featured both local and international artists, some of whom were performing for the first time on an international platform.
“Festivals such as Afropunk are hosted by cities and governments because they promote synergies between the music industry and the arts, ultimately contributing to community development, cultural economic tourism, social cohesion and local economic development,” explains Mgudlwa. Local and international tourists spent large amounts of money on accommodation, restaurants, souvenirs, transportation, etc., which in turn helped improve livelihoods in the City through 1048 jobs and 60 SMME opportunities created.”
