The Education and Arts Centre holds a unique position in our community: it is not only a place of safety and comfort, but also a source of influence, motivation, and support for the most vulnerable among us. It is the incubator of every idea that PACT has envisioned. Without it, our purpose diminishes and our value is smaller.
Here, children do not simply gain a voice, they gain agency and a true sense of self. At the end of the day, our vision of bringing about fundamental social and economic change can only be achieved by working from the foundation up.
At the heart of this foundation are children and youth. They are the epicentre of our work, the living manifestation of what is possible in our community.
Within the Education and Arts Centre, our focus is on combining education with the arts to inspire creativity, confidence, and community. We run programs that encourage young people to explore drama, music, visual arts, and collaborative projects, helping them grow in both skill and self-expression.
Blink Begin, PACT’s registered Early Childhood Development programme, started out as an informal play group pre-COVID in 2018 and now delivers structured early-years education, daily nutrition and developmental support to pre-school children in the Karoo. The programme has achieved Bronze Registration with the Western Cape Education Department, established its first officially recognised Grade R class and produced measurable learning gains across its cohort. PACT is now looking to raise additional funding to support the establishment of a Foundation Phase school on PACT’s adjoining property, extending this excellence of education with a focus on literacy, numeracy and the arts.
Started as an informal pre-COVID play group
Children have gone through Blink Begin since inception
WCED registration status, with an official Grade R class established
Next: a school on PACT’s adjoining property, focused on literacy, numeracy & the arts
Speel en Leer is PACT’s afternoon after-school programme, run by our youth leadership and serving a meal to every registered child and young person. The programme combines homework support and tutoring with sport, performance and music, giving children a safe, structured environment beyond the school day while developing the youth leaders who run it.
Kunsblom is PACT’s children’s art programme, run by our youth facilitators Elcado Blom and Ethan Martins. Art classes and workshops are held with visiting artists, including botanical tutor Sally Arnold, French artist Sonja Martins, and local artist and teacher Rebecca Haysom Taylor. Speel en Leer children also receive puppet-making classes, and an exhibition of children’s art is hung each year during the Journey to Jazz festival.
