Young musicians take centre stage at Artscape School Band Festival

Young musicians take centre stage at Artscape School Band Festival

20 June 2025

On Saturday, 14 June 2025, the Artscape Theatre resonated with the sounds of 172 young musicians from 11 school bands, celebrating Youth Month at this year’s Artscape School Band Festival.

This festival was a collaboration between the Western Cape Education Department and the Artscape Youth Jazz Series and was made possible through the support of the City of Cape Town, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, and the Suidoosterfees.

The bands represented the diversity (genres, skill levels and access) of learners from schools offering Music in Grades 10 to 12 (the Further Education and Training phase) in our province. The event provided young musicians from various backgrounds with the opportunity to perform on a professional stage with international standard sound and lighting facilities, managed by highly trained and experienced production crews, while also enhancing the performance outcomes of the National Senior Certificate FET Music curriculum.

All the selected bands were mentored and supported by the FET Music curriculum officials during the month leading up to the event as part of the STEAMAC Band and Ensemble Development project. This project also ensured that learners from the FET Music Focus Schools had access to music equipment and instruments for the development of their school bands.

Two of the school bands, Alexander Sinton High School and Fairbairn College, were invited to perform live on the SABC3 Expresso Morning Show on Friday, 13 June 2025.

On Saturday evening, all 11 bands brought their A-game leaving the audience wanting more after each performance!

The evening culminated in a finale performance by a band of the participating Music teachers and officials, followed by a curtain-call for all the school bands.

Watch Alexander Sinton High School on the Expresso Morning Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V01wGB_gNUg