Who we are
The Institute for Creative Repair is a newly formed ‘think and do tank’, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our mission is to repair people, communities, institutions and cities through arts, heritage, and culture.
Through experimental projects, conversation and research, we seek to both develop and revive models and practices for more regenerative cultural ecosystems in Africa and the global south.
We are driven by the belief that the current world order is not working, that creativity, disruption and collaboration are necessary, and that demonstration is more powerful than rhetoric.
We are a women-led, pan-African, not-for-profit company.
Activities
Public Engagement
Engaging and healing diverse publics through arts, culture and heritage-based projects.
Amplifying Artists’ Voices
Supporting artists to provide new perspectives and approaches to everyday challenges.
Institutional Transformation/ Public Sector Reform
Developing and strengthening cultural institutions as key places of civic engagement and repair. Supporting enabling public policy processes.
Reparative Restitution
Supporting complete, reparative restitutions
Our activities are achieved through:
Project Initiation and Execution: innovative creative projects, events and methodologies that focus on repair and regeneration with the arts.
Consulting: advisory services to support thriving cultural ecosystems.
Training and Development: Courses, Coaching, and Restorative Circles
Cultural Incubation and Museum Makeovers: setting-up, transforming and managing new and existing cultural institutions.
Research and Advocacy: developing and strengthening networks and collaboration, action-research and advocating for the arts.
Through experimental projects, conversation and research, we seek to develop and revive models and practices for more regenerative cultural ecosystems in Africa and the global south.
Our Values.
We are driven by the belief that the current world order is not working, that creativity, disruption and collaboration are necessary, and that demonstration is more powerful than rhetoric.
Practical Revolution
We are systems thinkers who are always looking at ways to support sustainable, paradigm-shifting change.
Collaboration and Co-creation
We prefer collaboration to competition, co-creation to participation.
Experiments: Iteration and Ideation
We dream big and use experiments, pilots, prototypes and other user-centered design methods to innovate.
Fair Remuneration
We believe that creative work is essential and should be valued and remunerated fairly.
Research and Reflection
Given our focus on experimentation, we are committed to research, evaluation and publication in order to reflect, learn and ultimately scale.
Courage and Risk
We accept failure- as long as we learn. We seek to make the space for others to take risks.
Africentricity
We anchor our approaches in African philosophies and practices from the past and present. We support and amplify indigenous processes and expertise.