Community Arts Program

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Community Arts Project (CAP) was a community arts center in Cape Town, South Africa, founded in 1977. It offered space, facilities, and training for artists, especially those marginalized by apartheid. CAP emerged during a time of intense social and political upheaval when racial segregation shaped every part of life. In response, many communities created art spaces to teach and share skills outside the official system. CAP grew from the principles of the Black Consciousness Movement, which encouraged pride in identity and self-reliance.

CAP’s core idea was simple: art can empower a community. After training, artists would take what they learned back to their communities to help others. While much of CAP’s work connected to the anti-apartheid struggle, the center also aimed to be a non-sectarian, multiracial space where people from different backgrounds could come together to learn and create.

CAP opened in 1977 at 17 Main Road in Mowbray. It started small, with classes growing as people requested them. The center offered visual arts, theatre, dance, and music, and also yoga and karate. While primarily serving adults, it offered some programs for children. By 1982, CAP helped organize the Culture and Resistance Conference in Gaborone and launched the Media Project, producing silkscreen posters for activism. Over time, CAP’s work became more political, and the South African Police raided the center several times in the 1980s.

CAP was known for its posters and bold public artwork, but its broader aim was to provide space for self-definition, healing, and creativity for marginalized people. It stood out as a rare multiracial community center in a divided city, inviting liberal white artists as well as people of all races to participate, while remaining independent of any political party.

As South Africa moved away from apartheid, CAP faced new financial and bureaucratic challenges. The government introduced new qualifications rules, which some felt undervalued the kind of flexible, community-based work CAP did. Despite these obstacles, CAP continued operating and trained many artists, some who would later gain wider recognition.

In 2004, CAP merged with the Media Project to form the Arts and Media Access Centre. Two years later, CAP closed due to funding shortages. The center’s work and archives remained dormant for years until 2012, when the Center for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape reopened the archive and staged an exhibition at the Iziko South African National Gallery called Uncontained: Opening the Community Arts Project archive. The show highlighted anti-apartheid art from the 1980s and also explored art’s role in the post-apartheid era. A companion book provided history, essays, and context.

Today, much of CAP’s work is housed at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape, and many artists who trained there went on to successful careers. CAP’s legacy lives on in its belief that art can build community, empower people, and challenge injustice.