Gusher HQ*: A Space for
Creation, Collaboration, and Connection
a proposed platform designed to foster creativity and interdisciplinary connections among local and international artists while promoting self-sustainability. Through collaboration and resource-sharing, this initiative aims to empower artists to create impactful work and support their long-term growth.
The Vision
With the $20,000 grant, we plan to invest in essential equipment for our film and music studios as well as cover our rental and running costs for the first year. This equipment will be available to members for various music and film productions, allowing creatives to access professional-grade gear for a fraction of the usual cost. Filmmakers can book out cameras, lighting, and sound equipment, while musicians can book time in our recording studio. The membership structure ensures that the equipment is continuously in use, and the revenue generated helps sustain the studio and community space while keeping prices affordable for the artists in our network. As our film studio is still in its early stages of development, this will serve as a vital resource for filmmakers looking to explore and expand their craft. Additionally, there’s the potential for members’ work to be released via our record label or further developed through our emerging film studio, offering unique opportunities for exposure and growth.
We’re not just about the production and productivity of creative communities—we’re also deeply committed to fostering genuine community connection and engagement. This is where our regular events come into play. Every week, we host Movie Night, Open Mic, and Trivia Night on Fridays, creating an interactive space for local creatives, audiences, and supporters to gather and connect around film, music, art, and culture. These events are open to the public, with a small entry fee of 50 rand, though those with a membership of any kind can attend for free, along with a guest. This fosters ongoing engagement with our community and offers an accessible way for people to support the creative space we’re building.
Through this combination of accessible resources, sustainable revenue models, and community-driven events, we are building a space where creativity isn’t just produced but nurtured, shared, and continuously evolving. By lowering the barriers to entry for filmmakers, musicians, and artists, we ensure that our space remains dynamic, collaborative, and artist-led.
Our programming includes a range of monthly, bi-monthly, and weekly events designed to foster artistic growth and organic connections within our community: ‘Live XPs’ take place on the first and last Saturday of each month, ‘Not a School day’ happens every 2nd Saturday, ‘Indie-Scene Labs’ are held on alternate Thursday evenings after hours, and we host Screenings on the 2nd Sunday of each month. Our First Thursday Art Exhibitions provide a regular platform for visual artists, and every Friday we hold ‘Movie night, Open Mic, and Trivia Night,’ offering a variety of ways for people to engage with our space and creative culture. These events are structured to both nurture creativity and provide consistent opportunities for connection.
Programming
Our programming is designed to cultivate a thriving, artist-led community by blending production, exhibition, and creative exchange. Each event serves as a touchpoint for engagement—whether through film screenings, live performances, art exhibitions, or collaborative workshops. By offering a mix of ticketed and free events, we create an accessible space where emerging and established artists can showcase their work, experiment with new ideas, and connect with an audience beyond traditional industry structures. Below is a breakdown of our regular programming, structured to provide consistent opportunities for artistic expression, collaboration, and community-building.
Monthly Events
Indie-Short Film Premiere & Screenings
🎫 Ticketed for Public | Free for Members
🗓 Every 2nd Sunday of the month
Each month, we’ll premiere a short film developed, produced and released through GUSHER*, starting with the documentary short film: ‘Umtshingo: Echoes of the Cradle’ (currently in post-production), Created by Peter Matlowa & Mike Ngudle. This marks the second of many short films we will produce and premiere, offering a space for independent filmmakers to share their work.
Preceding the premieres, we’ll host screenings of various independent productions, fostering a space for conversation, critique, and appreciation of experimental and emerging cinema.
For each Indie-Short Film Premiere, 50% of ticket sales from the premiere night will go directly to the filmmakers, while the remaining 50% will support the venue and its operations. While we acknowledge that this split isn’t always ideal for filmmakers—especially given the scale of film crews—we aim to offset this by offering them 70% of the revenue generated from YouTube streamings and other distribution revenue of their film. This means that, overall, filmmakers will receive 60% of the revenue we generate across both platforms, while GUSHER* retains 40%. This structure allows us to fairly compensate artists while ensuring the sustainability of our venue and its programming.
first thursday exhibitions
🎫 Free for all
🗓 Every 1st thursday of the month
Johannesburg’s art scene is dominated by commercial galleries, leaving little room for independent artists to showcase their work. While First Thursday events in both Cape Town and Johannesburg highlight cultural happenings, we aim to offer an alternative curation. Our space provides emerging and unconventional artists with a platform to exhibit without the need for a deep portfolio or market connections.
Our First Thursday Art Exhibitions provide an alternative: a space where artistic community engagement is prioritized over commercial interests. Curated by our initial team of resident curators and network members—Mbako Moemise, Denzo Nyathi, Zoleka, and Mosa Naleli—this event offers a dynamic platform for new voices, experimental curation, and work that challenges traditional gallery structures. Drawing inspiration from independent curatorial models like Cape Town’s under-projects and demo-projects, which are among the few spaces not focused on commercial purposes, our exhibitions create an open, accessible environment for both artists and audiences.
For now, artworks featured in our exhibitions will not be for sale. Our focus would be on creating a space for artistic expression, experimentation, and community engagement without the immediate pressure of commercial viability. However, should we choose to introduce a sales model in the future, it will be determined at management, community and curator’s discretion, ensuring a structure that is fair to both artists and curators while also contributing to the sustainability of the venue.
‘Not a School Day’ Event
🎫 Free for all
🗓 Every 2nd Saturday of the month
Not School Days take the rigid structure of a traditional school day and turn it into something fluid, experimental, and driven by creative exchange. Instead of grades and authority, we emphasize curiosity, collaboration, and artistic exploration.
This recurring event fosters co-learning, unlearning rigid structures, and building collaborative communities. Every edition brings fresh classes, new ideas, and ways to rethink learning.
Each event follows a structured yet flexible format:
• A Series of Classes – Three guest hosts lead interactive sessions on music, film, visual arts, and creative practice.
• The Interactive Class – Instead of a single host, the participants shape the session by bringing objects, ideas, or provocations to fuel discussion.
• Recess – A necessary break for socializing and decompression.
• Extracurriculars – A rotating section of the event, starting with ‘The Big Chesser Tournament’, a theatrical, absurdly formal yet unserious competition, to make things fun and engaging for our audiences.
Each Not School session will be live-streamed, recorded, and archived on our website, ensuring that the knowledge shared in these spaces remains accessible to all. This growing archive will serve as an open resource for anyone to revisit, learn from, and contribute to, reinforcing our commitment to co-learning and knowledge-sharing beyond the physical space
Bi-Monthly Events
Live XPs
🎫 Ticketed for Public | Free for Members
🗓 First & Last Saturday of the Month
The Live XPs are more than just shows—they are curated sonic exhibitions that celebrate local talent, collaboration, and cross-pollination. Designed to offer booking opportunities to emerging musicians in alternative spaces, these events also serve as a key revenue stream for HQ*, reinforcing our self-sufficiency model and ensuring we can continue providing resources and support to the community without relying solely on external grants.
Each Live XP features two to three acts per event, accompanied by an opening and closing DJ set. These performances are documented, written about by our team, and published alongside live recordings of each show similarly to ‘nina nights’. Additionally, performances will be made available for purchase via our Nina protocol profile, allowing artists to receive 70% of their streaming revenue and gusher, 30% for sustainablity. This dual-income model—live performance payouts and ongoing streaming revenue—ensures that both artists and the venue remain supported while solidifying GUSHER* as a hub for independent music and performance.
For Live XPs, 50% of the event’s income will be distributed among the performing artists. DJs, will receive 20%, while the remaining 30% will go to GUSHER to sustain the space and continue providing resources for future events.
Indie Cinema Scene Lab
🎫 Free for All
🗓 First & Last Saturday of the Month
The Indie Cinema Scene Lab is a creative space where filmmakers can develop scripts and projects in collaboration with actors, writers, and other creatives. Inspired by the Berlin Scene Lab, this initiative allows filmmakers to submit scripts, which are then voted on by a network of peers.
Selected scripts go through a workshopping process, leading up to staged readings where actors perform the material—giving the community a chance to see the work evolve and spark critical discussions. This will act as the entry into the pipeline of production, publishing and premiere through gusher*, whilst this is open to everyone, offering a valuable communal and critical interaction amongst filmmakers—gusher* will only provide member’s productions with gear, crowd-funding and production support. This initiative not only strengthens independent film culture but also expands the landscape of independent cinema production in south africa.
to emphasise the non-extractive nature of this initiative, while gusher will be growing it’s catalog of productions through this program it also provides filmmakers the opportunity to gain independent experience while offering revenue share to filmmakers who form part of our network via membership, 50% for the film premiere to the filmmakers, while the other 50% goes towards sustainability. 70% of revenue made from each film’s streams on Youtube will be allocated towards the filmmakers who created it and their crew, while GUSHER* would retain 30%.
Weekly Events
Movie , Open Mic &
Trivia Night
🎫 Ticketed for Public | Free for Members
🗓 Every friday
This weekly event blends cinema, live performance, and community engagement, offering a laid-back but stimulating night for film lovers and performers alike.
• Open Mic – A casual stage where attendees can sign up and perform anything from spoken word to music.
• Film Trivia – A fun, interactive session on film culture related to films selected for screening fostering knowledge while building a sense of community around cinema.
• Screening – At the beginning of each week, members vote on a MUBI film, which we’ll screen, creating potential for mubi partnership in africa (such as this).
This event not only fosters critical film conversation (integrating with our Letterboxd list series and G Flix* archive) but also serves as a prelude to nightlife. Located near clubs, it provides a chill starting point before a night out—complete with drinks, popcorn, and film culture. With the bar in operation, this event serves as a key revenue generator while strengthening our creative community.
This programming will create a space that is a modular, dynamic, multi-disciplinary hub—filling a major gap in Johannesburg’s creative landscape.
DAy-day operations
we aim to streamline the booking and scheduling of studio time and equipment, creating an efficient and accessible system for our members. To manage gear and studio bookings, we’ll be integrating platforms like Calendly, allowing members to easily book time via our membership portal. Once logged in, members will have access to real-time availability for both our music studio and film gear, ensuring a smooth and user-friendly experience.
The space is organized to ensure minimal overlap between events and bookings, with strict scheduling guidelines in place. All event days will be blocked off from studio and gear bookings, including:
Studio Availability
Monday through friday would be available for studio bookings, with no major events scheduled during the day, providing flexibility for film and music projects. Although weekends are typically reserved for events, members will be able to book studio time on weekends when no events are scheduled.
For after-hours bookings (like late-night recording or studio use), a small fee could be charged to cover the cost of having a staff member on-site. This ensures the space remains accessible even during non-business hours, while maintaining a safe and managed environment.
With this model, we’re creating an organized system that maximizes studio usage while respecting the flow of our events and community activities.