Department hosts Youth Cultural Evening to celebrate Youth Month

The Western Cape Department of Social Development (DSD) last night hosted the first annual Youth Cultural Evening, as part of our final week of Youth Month commemorations.

The event saw approximately 100 young people from all over the province join the Minister for an evening of drama, poetry, dance and music.

The Minister invited up and coming young artists and poets to showcase their talents and gain exposure. Some of the artists and poets invited were;

• UWC Jazz Band,
• Fostering Young Minds Community Band, assisted by the Major 7 Jazz Band,
• Ms. Siphosethu Pikhelela, independent artist and poet.

We are incredibly proud of the talented young artists who performed on the evening. DSD has allocated R15.6-million this financial year to supporting these and other young people across the province.

In his address, Western Cape Minister of Social Development, Albert Fritz, spoke of the importance of delivering services to young people as guided by the Provincial Youth Development Strategy and the Provincial Strategic Goals (PSG), specifically PSG 2, which calls on us to improve education outcomes and opportunities for youth development.

“Tonight is more than just about fun music and poetry, we are showcasing and supporting young entertainment entrepreneurs, and hopefully encouraging more young people to become entrepreneurs in whatever fields,”, said Minister Fritz.

“Beyond this commemorative Youth Month, we’ll continue to roll out services and opportunities to youth, especially those who are classified as NEETs (not in employment, education and training), for them to find jobs, become entrepreneurs or gain training and skills”, said Minister Fritz.