This week, in our heritage series, we talk to Professor Nombeko Mpako, who is the Acting Director of the School of Arts at the University of South Africa and chair of the Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology. We discuss the skills contribution of the Arts to human development, such as constructive thinking, imagination, empathy, confidence and creativity, which align to the World Economic Forum’s projected set of skills for the workforce in 2020. We note that although the Arts are compulsory subjects in school curricula, fulfilling this mandate is hampered by inadequate resources. We discuss the work of renowned female artists as well as the meaning and the objectives behind their work. We remark on the role of education and highlight the University of South Africa’s objectives to transform and afford recognition to Africanness; to embrace African knowledge, African ways of knowing and African ways of teaching to expand and expose Africa’s wisdom to the world. Tune in for more…

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