iStart2Sing festival embraces diversity, disability and sustainability

Under the African sun there is a place for everyone; South Africa’s diversity is her strength and it is something to celebrate. Join the National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in South Africa (NCPPDSA) in celebrating diversity at the iStart2Sing Festival at Constitution Hill on 31 May 2015.

The full day festival will showcase a variety of art forms including music, dance, performance, fine art, poetry and writing. The event aims to create the awareness that artists with disabilities can function and perform with mainstream artists. Top artists will join iStart2 Ambassador Pops Mohamed in embracing the spirit of solidarity and highlighting diversity, disability and sustainability.

“If persons with disabilities do not form part of our diversity thinking, then our society will not succeed,” said Therina Wentzel: National Director NCPPDSA.

With the promise of entertainment for all, the iStart2Sing Festival will be a great day out for families. Artists like Ntsiki Mazwai and Zubz are already lined up, with more to be confirmed in the coming weeks.  There will be performances by the Field Band Foundation and DJ sessions on the youth stage.

The Festival is also literally “sharing the sun” with a R450 000 donation of solar lights to various charitable organisations. This donation serves to improve lives and educate disadvantaged communities about renewable, sustainable energy.

“When we focus on creating a sustainable world, when we let it sing from every village and every town, from every city and every country, we will be able to join hands and leave sustainable footprints for our children,” says Pierre du Toit from iStart2 Global

Artists, organisations, charities, the media, the disabled community, and people who are serious about creating a sustainable world for all who live in it are invited to unite, join hands and celebrate diversity, in what promises to be a remarkable event.

The iStart2Sing Festival is a collaboration between the NCPPDSA, iStart2Global, National Arts Council, the WakaWaka Foundation and ISeeYou. It takes place on 31 May 2015 at Constitution Hill from 10h00 to 20h00. Tickets cost R100 per person and can be purchased from https://loveparty.nutickets.co.za/istart2festival or at the venue on the day. Artists wishing to participate should contact event management on (012) 667 5898 or iStart2Global@gmail.com or visit www.iStart2.com.

For Interview requests and access to high-resolution pictures contact JT Communication Solutions on media@jtcomms.co.za or 011 788 7632

Issued by JT Communication Solutions on behalf of iStart2Global

Notes:

NCPPDSA

The National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in South Africa is a non-governmental organisation with a footprint throughout South Africa. The vision of the council is to strive for an inclusive and accessible society where persons with disabilities have equal rights to economic and social opportunities. For more information visit: www.nappyrun.co.za and/or www.casualday.co.za

iStart2

iStart2 is a not-for-profit company partnering with government, business, multiple celebrities, the arts and the community as a whole. It has identified seven sustainability concepts (e.g. electricity, water, waste) to be addressed to create economic, environmental and social wellbeing.  By using the arts, iStart2 aims to involve the youth to communicate the message of leaving sustainable footprints in a language everyone can understand. For more information visit: www.istart2.com

WakaWaka Foundation

The WakaWaka Foundation is an internationally operating NGO combating energy poverty. The Foundation provides safe, sustainable and self-sufficient energy and light solutions to people living at the bottom of the pyramid.

These solar solutions are comprised of the WakaWaka Light, providing up to 80 hours of LED lighting, and the WakaWaka Power, the smartest and most efficient solar LED light and charger in the world. Using the WakaWaka products provides life-changing benefits for health, the environment, safety, education and financial stability.

The Foundation devises strategies to make solar solutions available to those who suffer from extreme poverty, live in remote regions or are victims of forced migration.  For more information visit: http://wakawakafoundation.org/

I SEE YOU

The I SEE YOU programme for amongst others employment and economic empowerment aims to change the attitudes towards and regarding persons with disabilities, no less by and among persons with disabilities themselves.

The programme aims to foster a new way of seeing disability as part of the diversity agenda of our country with Human Rights as the basis of our diverse equality. This view inclusive of persons with disability will bring to the fore the critical dialogue on human rights and economic empowerment.

It is absolutely necessary that we begin to influence and effect this change, through awareness and activism, to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in diversity agendas, and that this actually happens throughout civil society and especially in government and corporate South Africa.