Cape Cultural Collective appoints two new board members
The Cape Cultural Collective (CCC) has appointed Ms Cherie Hendricks and Dr Neeta A. Ramkumar to its Board of Directors. The appointments deepen CCC’s governance capacity and advance its work at the intersection of arts, identity, and community development.
CCC Board Chairperson Zenariah Barends welcomed the appointments:
“Both appointments reflect CCC’s commitment to building an organisation that is as rigorous in its governance as it is bold in its cultural vision. Cherie brings the compliance and sustainability leadership we need at board level; Neeta brings a psychosocial and cross-cultural depth that directly enriches our programme work. We are fortunate to have them.”
Ms Cherie Hendricks — Governance, Sustainability, and Compliance
Ms Hendricks joins the Board with more than two decades of senior executive experience in corporate governance, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. She served as Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director at a JSE-listed entity, where she was also a member of the Board of Directors.
Her portfolio at the JSE-listed entity encompassed governance frameworks, ethical culture development, stakeholder engagement, and compliance structures within a regulated listed-company environment. She has served on corporate and listed-company boards, with a focus on ethics, compliance, and sustainability oversight.
Ms Hendricks’ community engagement includes long-term involvement with the Where Rainbows Meet Training and Development Foundation in Vrygrond, supporting youth development initiatives. She also contributed to the Sekunjalo Edujazz Concert, a fundraising initiative that provided educational bursaries for learners from disadvantaged Western Cape communities while creating performance opportunities for emerging musicians.
She believes arts and culture have the power to bridge the gap by bringing people from diverse communities and backgrounds together and celebrating this diversity:
“By providing music education and mentorship, from primary school through to tertiary education, it helped nurture local talent. I assisted with students working alongside mainstream South African artists and provided a platform for them to showcase their talents through shows and concerts. Many of the students I worked with became musicians in their own right.”
She holds executive education credentials from the UCT Graduate School of Business (Executive Women in Leadership) and the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. Her appointment strengthens the CCC’s governance capacity at board level, particularly in sustainability alignment, compliance oversight, and stakeholder engagement.
Dr Neeta A. Ramkumar — Cross-Cultural Psychology and Community Wellbeing
Dr Neeta A. Ramkumar is a US-licensed psychologist, therapist, consultant, and founder of Psychology Across Borders, PLLC, a global grassroots organisation created by and for mental health professionals.
With more than 15 years of experience in the mental health field, her work focuses on cross-cultural transition, identity, belonging, trauma, and the psychological impact of living across borders. Through her clinical work and public engagement, Dr. Ramkumar advocates for culture, storytelling, dialogue, and the arts as essential pathways toward collective healing beyond the therapy room.
Dr Ramkumar earned her doctorate in Counselling Psychology from the APA-accredited program at Texas A&M University in 2012, where she also completed a Master of Science in Educational Psychology. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and History from the University of Texas at Austin. Her postgraduate clinical training took place at US Veterans Affairs hospitals in New Orleans and Houston, where she developed specialised expertise in trauma treatment.
Her international career began in 2015 with a lectureship at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, where she focused on mental health capacity-building and developed a telepsychology training program to strengthen professional psychology practice across the region. Since then, she has lived and worked across the United States, Fiji, Cameroon, Spain, France, and South Africa.
Her professional perspective is deeply informed by her own transnational identity. Born to Indian Guyanese parents who separately immigrated to the United States, she spent her childhood in Singapore and Malaysia before returning to the U.S. as a teenager. These experiences shaped her understanding of third-culture identity, migration, and belonging, and continue to influence her work with individuals and communities navigating cultural transitions and intergenerational healing.
Beyond her clinical practice, Dr. Ramkumar is an international speaker, educator, and consultant contributing to conversations on racial identity, migration, cultural displacement, and global mental health. She is the co-editor of Psychology in the Caribbean and Oceania (2022), a TEDx speaker whose talk “Why Psychologists Should Be Everywhere” explores expanding psychological care beyond traditional settings. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Cape Cultural Collective.
Poetry Jazz Sunset Session
Poetry & Jazz Sunset Session
On the 14th of May 2026, patrons and supporters of the CCC gathered at Artscape Theatre Centre for an unforgettable Poetry & Jazz Sunset Session where music and storytelling met.
Featuring the Mamela Jazz Band with Charles Louw, Carlo Fabe and Clayton Pretorius, the evening blended live jazz, soulful vocals from Alexander Benjamin and Ivee Soul, and powerful spoken word by poets Luyolo Lengisi and Naidene Lottering, with MC Vusumuzi Mpofu. Curated by Thami Baba and Vusumuzi Mpofu, the 90-minute experience celebrated African identity, heritage and creative expression during Africa Month. Presented by the Cape Cultural
On the 14th of May, patrons and supporters of the CCC gathered at Artscape Theatre Centre for an unforgettable Poetry & Jazz Sunset Session where music and storytelling met.
Featuring the Mamela Band with Charles Louw, Carlo Fabe and Clayton Pretorius, the evening blended live jazz, soulful vocals from Alexander Benjamin and Ivee Soul, and powerful spoken word by poets Luyolo Lengisi and Naidene Lottering, with MC Vusumuzi Mpofu. Curated by Thami Baba and Vusumuzi Mpofu, the 90-minute experience celebrated African identity, heritage and creative expression during Africa Month. Presented by the Cape Cultural Collective.
The next Poetry & Jazz Sunset Session will take place on Thursday 23rd July 2026 at the Innovation Lounge, Artscape Theatre Centre.
Cape Cultural Collective Seniors Walking Group Programme
Cape Cultural Collective Seniors Walking Group Programme Launch
The Cape Cultural Collective launched its Seniors Walking Group at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, attracting 36 participants from across the Cape Flats. The initiative provided seniors with an opportunity to engage in outdoor activity, social connection, and environmental learning.
Senior horticulturist Karen Wall, gave the group a guided tour. She covered the history of the gardens and the unique fynbos of the Western Cape. There was strong interest in indigenous herbs such as Kruidjie-Roer-My-Nie, kankerbossie, and olieblaar. These are known to have medicinal value to curing common ailments.
Hilton Van Niekerk of the Amakrokokroko Hiking Group commended the initiative, emphasizing the importance of encouraging seniors to access natural spaces. He also shared the group’s journey, inspiring participants to remain active.
Following a tea break with sandwiches prepared by Beverly Brown, the group enjoyed a guided walk through Cecelia Forest and along the Cecelia River. The experience fostered camaraderie, with participants reconnecting and forming new relationships.
Reflections highlighted the event’s impact. Simoné noted the joy of social interaction, while Princess Zelda Hintza emphasized that seniors can remain active. Mary shared how the walk helped her reconnect with nature despite physical challenges, describing it as uplifting.
The route included the Boomslang Tree Canopy Walk, enjoying panoramic views. A suggestion was made to name the group “Nature’s CATS.”
Overall, the event successfully promoted wellness, social connection, and environmental appreciation, with strong interest in future walks.
Darling Buds of May Benefit Concert
Darling Buds of May fund-raiser a resounding success
A line-up of stellar artists kept the cold at bay during the Darling Buds of May fund-raiser on Saturday night, May 9, at a private residence in Wynberg.
Chairperson of the Cape Cultural Collective Board of Directors, Zenariah Barends, welcomed guests.
“We are here not just to share in an evening of incredible music and performance, but to celebrate a vision of social cohesion and development through the arts that has been at the heart of the Cape Cultural Collective for almost two decades. Tonight’s benefit concert is a vital moment for us. Every ticket bought and every person in this room represents a commitment to the idea that the arts can bridge the divides of our past and build a more unified future. The proceeds from this evening will go directly towards sustaining our ongoing programmes. Your presence here tonight allows us to keep the music playing and the stories flowing.”
Setting the tone for the evening was an upbeat amapiano dance by the Likhwezi Arts Project. Likhwezi, which means morning star, went on to perform two more items later, including a contemporary dance piece highlighting gender-based violence and promoting the rights of children; and a real hip-swinging Sophiatown-themed dance that captured the spirit of the past despite Apartheid’s oppression.
Karen Thorne and Tessa Gawith performed a version of Die Stem they had written as members of a trio called the Koeksisters during the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), which had opposed mandatory military service for white men during Apartheid.
Karen and Tessa had been members of the Grahamstown branch of the ECC and formed the Koeksisters with Alison Love. They performed at ECC and other anti-Apartheid protests and sang reworked songs with protest lyrics.
On Saturday, they shared the lyrics they had put to the tune of Die Stem – a poem written by CJ Langenhoven but used as the old national anthem.
The CCC’s own Rosa choir followed this with the national anthem of a democratic South Africa, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, as well as a rendition of Stand By Me.
The Rosa choir, who are due to enter the studio for their first professional recording on May 23, later sang a version of Ndisondela Kuwe.
The smooth voices of Cindy Gibbon, Alex Benjamin and Thami Baba got the audience feeling nostalgic and ready to dance with songs including At Last, Fly Me to the Moon and Vul’Indlela. Poets Chris Ferndale and Vusumuzi Mpofu, who also served as MC, rendered some of their soul-stirring work. Vusumuzi’s She Loves Me was a work dedicated to his mother, Sibongile, who sat in the audience, and was a fitting tribute a day before Mother’s Day.
Chris’s works, The Harlequins are Dancing; A Short Walk to the Taxi; Mixed Masala and Khoi-Blessing left the audience in awe.
All artists were accompanied by a live band made up of CCC ensemble members Razak Johnson on guitar, Charles Louw on keyboard, Jonathan Coetzee on bass and Carlo Fabe on drums.
There were exciting raffles with prizes including stays in the Duivenhoksriver Valley, Tamboerskloof, Hogsback and St James; as well as a tandem bike ride up Chapman’s Peak and sunset drive in a vintage Mercedes-Benz.
Faces of the CCC: Programme Manager
Vusumuzi Mpofu is an award-winning spoken word artist, youth advocate, and Programme Manager of the Cape Cultural Collective Writers’ Club. Known for using poetry as a tool for expression, leadership, and social impact, he represents a generation of artists building change both on and off the stage.
His creative journey began in 2014 through mentorship programmes that developed young poets in Cape Town. Since then, he has performed on major platforms, built networks across the live arts scene, and continued using spoken word to engage youth voices and community development.
Outside the CCC, Vusumuzi works in advocacy and youth empowerment, helping create opportunities for young people to lead change in their own communities.
In this Faces of the CCC interview, he reflects on mentorship, discipline, creativity, and why the arts remain one of the strongest forces for connection. Read the full Q&A below to learn more about the voice, vision, and purpose behind his work.
Q&A
1. Describe yourself in three words or fewer.
Focused. Hardworking. Fun.
2. Tell us about your journey into the arts. What pivotal experience shaped your approach?
I began writing and performing poetry in 2014. I had always been fascinated by literature and lyricism.
At the time, the Lingua Franca Spoken Word Movement was visiting different communities to identify and mentor young poets for an exchange programme with students and poets from the USA.
I was selected to join the mentorship alongside other young poets. We attended monthly poetry and creativity workshops that helped us develop as professional performers, writing and responding through decolonial poetics.
I am also an alumnus of the C.Y.P.H.E.R Programme (Cape Youth Poetry Hub for Expression & Rhythm). Through that journey, I started networking in Cape Town’s live performance scene, attending open mic events and theatre productions.
That is where I was introduced to the Cape Cultural Collective, first as a poet and performer. Over the years, I grew into managing the Writers’ Club, a creative writing and poetry programme of the CCC.
Being mentored shaped my approach because I learned from different people, experiences, cultures, beliefs, and perspectives. It led me to take a broader community development approach, using poetry as a tool for advocacy and social growth.
3. This is not your day job, tell us a little more about yourself, where are you from and what do you do when you’re not involved in the CCC?
I am a multi-award-winning and slam-winning published spoken word artist who creates authentic work centred on youth experiences and narratives.
I also work in community development, helping young people lead positive change through my role at Gold Youth Development Agency, where I serve as Marketing and Advocacy Co-ordinator.
When I am not involved with the CCC, I am usually writing poetry, performing, or serving the community through my work at Gold Youth.
4. If you could have any superpower for a day, what would it be and why?
I would choose the power to freeze time so I could complete everything on my to-do list.
I often feel there is so much to do and not enough time. If I could freeze time for a month, I would get a great deal done, then unfreeze it and only a second would have passed.
5. What song best describes your personality?
Love Yours by J. Cole
6. What’s the most memorable project you’ve been part of or your most memorable experience?
One of my most memorable experiences was flying to Durban in October 2025 for the first time to perform at Poetry On The Lawn. It was a grounding and affirming moment for me.
7. How do you get inspired when you feel stuck creatively?
I take breaks, drink water, and reset through Tae Bo meditation.
8. How do you think the arts can bring people together?
Music, poetry, dance, visual art, and other creative forms do not discriminate based on race, sex, or belief. We all engage with them in some way, and that shared connection helps bring people together.
9. What’s one thing you wish more people knew about CCC?
I want people to know that a great deal of work and passion goes into the different programmes.
There are also opportunities for volunteers, and people can get involved to support the work being done.
10. What do you enjoy most about being involved in the CCC?
I enjoy the growth and learning opportunities.
I also value working with different people who bring different knowledge, skills, and experiences.
11. What’s one piece of advice you received as a young person that still guides you?
Keep going.
New Rosa choir musical director
Rosa choir has started their 2026 season on a high note with a host of fresh voices, exciting projects on the go and, at the forefront of it all, a new musical director. Denzil Jacobs, 39, was formally appointed in March 2026.
He met his new charges at the Artscape theatre’s resource centre on Saturday March 28, taking them through some breathing exercises and vocal warm-ups and, after dividing the choir into various singing voices, teaching them a bit of the song, Ndisondela Kuwe.
Rosa choir, which was started in 2012 and is one of the Cape Cultural Collective’s nine programmes, officially started weekly Saturday practices on April 11. They are rehearsing for their first professional video, which will be recorded in May.
A choir member all his life and now a full-time professional music teacher, Denzil was initially a reluctant musician. Rosa choir has Denzil’s family to thank for nudging him in the right direction. “To tell the truth, at first I wasn’t interested but was forced to be as we have a musical family background.” His mother, Mary Davonia Jacobs, is an alto choir singer, his elder sister Malicia Jacobs, plays all the recorders and the piano, and his uncles and aunts are involved in choir and orchestra conducting as well as singing and playing instruments. At the age of 6, Denzil’s mum and dad, Daniel Jacobs, sent him to music classes but he looked for any excuse to dodge lessons. It was all thanks to patience from Malicia that the music bug bit. She had started learning music before Denzil and inspired him to hone his talent. “She was the one who sat with me and helped me,” he said. “She could already read music by the time I started.”
He took professional music classes at the age of 12, finishing Trinity Grade 4 with the help of a teacher in Rocklands. At Sunday school, he sang and played the descant recorder. It was also at Sunday school that he began as a conductor from a young age, eventually moving to adult choirs, then primary and high school choirs. He would love to see the Rosa choir rise up to be one of the city’s top choirs. He wants to train the singers to channel their feelings into the songs. “Music is the language that touches souls, and the beautiful message music has, we want to share it.”
Denzil plays all the recorders, a little bit of clarinet, trumpet, silver flute and piano, with the church pipe organ being his major instrument. He has earned a music diploma from Stellenbosch University as a pipe organ and piano student, and a certificate in choral conducting. “I always make sure I keep myself up-to-date with workshops to gain more experience. In 2025, I attended four eisteddfod choral conducting workshops.” Classical music, pop, and local jazz top his list of favourite genres, while his favourite artists are music writer and director, David Foster, as well as Alicia Keys and John Legend. A baritone singing voice himself, Denzil wants the choir to know that he is fully committed to them. “I will only give my best by preparing for sessions, getting some nice repertoire together, making learning fun and sessions too, and upskilling myself to be a benefit to them.” Denzil is a through and through person of the ’Plain, growing up in New Lentegeur and matriculating from Lentegeur Senior Secondary in 2005. He lives in Beacon Valley with wife, Jessica, and their three daughters, Jia, 13, and 11-year-old twins, Mia and Liah.
Besides music, he also loves the IT world, helping in school computer labs to fix computers and printers. He follows football and rugby, supporting Liverpool and the Springboks. It’s safe to say that Rosa choir is in good hands, with a maestro from Mitchell’s Plain at the helm. On Saturday April 25, Rosa choir will entertain residents of Cheshire Home in Penlyn Estate. Rosa choir sings in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans.
For more information on the Rosa choir, contact Kay Jaffer on 082 202 3131. Email the Cape Cultural Collective on capeculturalcollective@gmail.com