The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra's Youth Development & Education Programme and its contribution to transformation and diversity within the CPO

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Orchestras worldwide are faced with challenges relating to sustainability; orchestras in South Africa are no exception. In addition to their core business of performing across diverse genres, South African orchestras have a role to play in ensuring social transformation as well as promoting inclusivity and equality. In response to the withdrawal of government funding until these goals were incorporated into their business plan, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) established the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (CPYO) in 2003. The CPYO subsequently became one of five programmes of the CPO's Youth Development and Education Programme (YDEP), whose goal it is to enable transformation and diversity in the CPO.The main focus of the research was to investigate to what extent the YDEP has contributed to enabling transformation and diversity in the CPO. The secondary focus included an investigation into economic empowerment within the YDEP and the role of the YDEP in the Western Cape. Elements of five research designs were used in order to gain the most relevant data. These designs included the case study, ethnographic and evaluative research, secondary data analysis and survey-based research. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews, observations and questionnaires.Several themes emerged during the process of analysing the data. Mentorship was strongly present in most of the activities of YDEP and was identified as a main form of skills transferral within the organisation. The concept of accessibility presented itself on many levels – access to music education, classical music for new audiences and opportunities for the youthful players to perform with professional musicians of the CPO in side-by-side concerts. A particular challenge for the YDEP was that of throughput from the YDEP into the CPO, which was the ultimate goal. Part of the process of achieving transformation and diversity was to create opportunities for the economic empowerment of YDEP members. The study presented these themes, amongst others, in order to determine how the YDEP has assisted the CPO in the process of transformation in order to achieve greater diversity.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University