Community, culture, and the cosmos
The rural Western Cape town of Porterville came alive on 23 and 24 September with the second edition of the Purple Mountain Heritage Day Festival (PMHF) – a free, 36-hour celebration of art, poetry, storytelling, traditional food, music, photography, and astronomy.
Put together by Purple Mountain Arts Residency’s co-directors and founders, Carl Collison and his husband, Aldo Brincat, the festival once again set out to “open hearts, minds, and the doors to the humanity in each of us”.
“South Africa still feels the legacies of colonialism and apartheid,” said Collison. “While individuals may feel powerless to change these realities in any significant way, we can choose to explore them together with respect and empathy.”
This year’s festival celebrated two important milestones:
Outside funding
For the first time, the Purple Mountain Heritage Festival received funding support from the Western Cape Government and the Goethe-Institut Nigeria’s pan-African programme, Residency Re-Sourced. This enabled the PMAR to:
- pay for services and accommodation provided by the local community of Porterville
- employ four young local interns,
- cover all festival administrative costs,
- provide honorariums to all participating artists, and
Celebrating and supporting local
The second milestone was a decisive shift in the programme itself. Whereas the inaugural edition of the PMHF featured mostly Cape Town- and Johannesburg-based artists, this year’s line-up was almost entirely made up of creatives from Porterville and the broader region.
Audiences enjoyed a variety of performances and experiences:
- Winners of the Purple Mountain Youth Day Poetry Competition were given a platform to build on their emerging skills in writing and performance. Visiting award-winning poet, Jadrick Pedro, mentored the winners from June onwards and shared the stage with them, after which he launched his book Lostorring, published by Turksfy.
- Under the year-long tutelage of PMAR co-director, Aldo Brincat, young orators from Porterville High School (under the name, Die Jong Redenaars) delivered fiery performance poetry with conviction and passion well beyond their years.
Minke, Hadlii and Mikeyla from Die Jong Redenaars.
- Allen Daniels (winner of the Purple Mountain Youth Day Festival poetry competition) and his partner, Neheusha Daniels, shared music that spoke to their identity as both South Africans and Western Cape residents.
- Returning Heritage Day Festival favourites, Aletta and Nicole Hendricks – a mother-and-daughter duo – had audiences in tears of laughter and pathos with their storytelling on food and heritage, while serving delicious, hearty, traditional, indigenous dishes.
- Internationally respected astronomer, Dr Catherine Cress, set up her powerful telescope on the lawn of Mountville Guesthouse and taught – and wowed – youngsters and adults alike with her stargazing presentation.
- Photographer, Beauty Buthelezi, shared striking images of indigenous people from Papua New Guinea. During her walkabout, the Cape Town-based photographer spoke about identity and culture, and how photographing people from various cultures strengthened her on a personal level.
Dr Catherine Cress set up her telescope – and the beauty of the cosmos opened up!
- ’Matlali Matabane and Gina van der Ploeg premiered their film, The Wind Has Waited, to an eager and appreciative crowd. Documenting the removal of 2km of fencing from the Tankwa Desert, the film built on work the artists had previously presented at the Purple Mountain Youth Day Festival, in June 2025.
- Under the theme, Here I Stand, the youth-centred photography competition yielded eye-opening perspectives on belonging and identity as seen through the lens of Porterville’s young people. Free, weekly photography classes, held in the lead-up to the competition, culminated in a festive showdown at the Bettie Julius Library in Monte Bertha. Winners received cash prizes of R500, R350, and R150 respectively, kindly donated by local resident Amellia Keefer.
Oyena Tsawu clinched first prize, while Jaydin Lombard took second prize, and Andrea Van Wyk’s photograph secured her the third prize.
Internships and skills development
Four interns assisted the festival organisers, ensuring the festival ran smoothly. The young Porterville residents also completed a 12-hour corporate-readiness course, focusing on speech-creation and speech delivery, for which they each received a Certificate of Attendance.
Each of this year’s Purple Mountain Heritage Day Festival events boasted capacity audiences, with the festival recording just under 250 seats booked – and, in some cases, waiting lists being compiled.
“Access to all PMAR events are free of charge and open to all. In a country such as ours, with such high levels of inequality, ticket prices are too often used to exclude. We want everyone to feel welcome and share in these national celebrations,” said Brincat.
It is estimated that approximately R85 000 to R100 000 was injected into the Porterville economy in the run-up to, and delivery of, the Purple Mountain Heritage festival.
Media coverage
Once again, Purple Mountain Heritage Day Festival was thrilled to have caught the attention of various national media houses:
Purple Mountain Heritage Festival would like to thank all of those who participated and made our festival possible, reaffirming its role as a unique space where art, heritage, and community converge.
