What does the community need?
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Who are we?
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What does the community need? ⋆ Who are we? ⋆
GUSHER* WASN’T BORN OUT OF A PLAN—IT WAS BORN OUT OF NEcessity. LIKE MANY ARTISTS NAVIGATING SOUTH AFRICA’S CREATIVE LANDSCAPE, WE STARTED OUT FEELING DISCONNECTED, UNSURE OF WHERE WE FIT IN. THERE WAS NO CLEAR MAP, NO OBVIOUS ENTRY POINTS to local alternative culture. IT WASN’T UNTIL WE BEGAN SHARING OUR WORK AND BUILDING CONNECTIONS THAT WE REALIZED WE WEREN’T ALONE—THERE WERE COUNTLESS OTHERS LOOKING FOR THE SAME THING.
AT FIRST, GUSHER* WAS SIMPLY A VEHICLE FOR OUR OWN ARTISTIC PRACTICE and projects. WE MADE WORK, DOCUMENTED IT, AND CREATED PLATFORMS TO SHARE IT and shared this platform with others in our immediate environment. BUT AS OUR NETWORK GREW, SOMETHING BECAME CLEAR: WE WEREN’T THE ONLY ONES CARVING OUT SPACES LIKE THIS. ACROSS JOHANNESBURG, cape town, durban AND BEYOND, ARTISTS, MUSICIANS, AND FILMMAKERS WERE FORMING THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES—EACH DRIVEN BY THE SAME DESIRE TO CREATE AND CONNECT, BUT OFTEN OPERATING IN ISOLATION.
Johannesburg and the Spark of an alternative community
OUR ROOTS IN JOHANNESBURG PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE IN SHAPING THIS REALIZATION. THIS CITY SHOWED US THE DEPTH OF SOUTH AFRICA’S ALTERNATIVE CREATIVE COMMUNITIES—NOT THROUGH IMMEDIATE ACCESS, BUT THROUGH DISCOVERY. WE DIDN’T KNOW THESE SPACES EXISTED UNTIL WE STARTED OUR OWN. AS WE FORGED CONNECTIONS, HOSTED EVENTS, AND DOCUMENTED OUR WORK, WE BEGAN TO SEE A PATTERN: THERE WAS NO SHORTAGE OF alternative ARTISTS PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES, BUT THE LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE MEANT MANY OPERATED IN SILOS, WITH LITTLE SUPPORT OR SUSTAINABILITY.
For Creative Communities
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By the Creative Community
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For Creative Communities — By the Creative Community —
OVER TIME, WE REALIZED WE WEREN’T INTERESTED IN JUST BEING ANOTHER COLLECTIVE OR LABEL COMPETING FOR SPACE.
THAT KIND OF INDIVIDUALISM—WHERE EVERy
SMALL COMMUNITY IS FORCED TO FEND FOR ITSELF—WAS
EXACTLY WHAT MADE LONG-TERM SURVIVAL SO DIFFICULT
IN THE FIRST PLACE. INSTEAD, WE ‘ve BECoME MORE
FOCUSED ON BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN
THESE COMMUNITIES, FINDING WAYS
TO SHARE RESOURCES, SKILLS, AND INFRASTRUCTURE
in order to achieve sustainability.
BEYOND COMPETITION: A SHARED FUTURE
GUSHER* IS PART OF A LARGER COMMUNITY THAT COULD THRIVE ON COLLABORATION, BUT TOO OFTEN STRUGGLES UNDER THE WEIGHT OF COMPETITION. for example OVER THE YEARS, WE’VE SEEN local, forward thinking INITIATIVES LIKE LILIES RADIO, THE OTHER RADIO, AND HAMSHACK RADIO—EACH WITH ITS OWN DISTINCT VISION—OPERATE INDEPENDENTLY, WITHOUT A COMMON INFRASTRUCTURE TO SHARE RESOURCES.
THE OTHER RADIO AND HAMSHACK RADIO, BOTH BASED IN CAPE TOWN, EVENTUALLY SHUT DOWN DUE TO A LACK OF SUSTAINABILITY. LILIES RADIO REMAINS OPERATIONAL, BUT ONLY ON A SMALL SCALE, WITH LIMITED OPEN DAYS. THESE CLOSURES WEREN’T BECAUSE OF A LACK OF INTEREST OR CULTURAL VALUE—IF ANYTHING, THEY WERE PILLARS OF THEIR SCENES—BUT BECAUSE EACH WAS FORCED TO SHOULDER THE FULL WEIGHT OF ITS OWN SURVIVAL. RENT, EQUIPMENT, OPERATIONAL COSTS—ALL WERE INDIVIDUAL BURDENS, WHEN THEY COULD HAVE BEEN SHARED.
THIS LED US TO THE IDEA OF AN HQ*—A ‘HEADQUARTERS’ WHERE THESE COMMUNITIES AND THEIR ARTISTS CAN MEET, CREATE, AND COLLABORATE. A PLACE WHERE ACCESS TO EQUIPMENT, KNOWLEDGE, AND OPPORTUNITIES ISN’T GATEKEPT, BUT SHARED. WHERE THE SUCCESS OF ONE ARTIST OR COLLECTIVE DOESN’T COME AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER, BUT CONTRIBUTES TO A STRONGER, MORE SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM.
WE BELIEVE WE ARE UNIQUELY POSITIONED TO HOUSE A SPACE LIKE THIS BECAUSE OF OUR OPEN AND EVER-INCLUSIVE NATURE. WE DON’T SEE OURSELVES AS A FIXED ENTITY BUT AS A CONSTANTLY EVOLVING PLATFORM—ONE THAT EXPANDS AND SHIFTS TO ACCOMMODATE NEW IDEAS, NEW COMMUNITIES, AND NEW WAYS OF MAKING. OUR GOAL IS NOT TO CENTRALIZE OR DICTATE A SCENE, BUT TO FACILITATE EXCHANGE—A NETWORK THAT SUPPORTS THE AUTONOMY OF INDIVIDUAL COLLECTIVES WHILE PROVIDING INFRASTRUCTURE TO STRENGTHEN THE WHOLE.
WE RECOGNIZE THE FRAGMENTED NATURE OF ALTERNATIVE CULTURAL SPACES WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA AND it’s unsustainability—we SEEK TO COLLABORATE WITH VARIOUS ENTITIES TO DEFINE AND STRENGTHEN THIS NETWORK AS A CREATIVE ECOSYSTEM. ALTERNATIVE ART IN SOUTH AFRICA DOESN’T JUST NEED PLATFORMS—IT NEEDS LONGEVITY. AND THAT LONGEVITY CAN ONLY COME FROM COMMUNITY, NOT JUST WITHIN SMALLER POCKETS OF CREATIVITY, BUT ACROSS THEM.
THAT’S WHY WE’RE NOT JUST BUILDING A NETWORK FOR OURSELVES; WE’RE LOOKING TO CONNECT WITH OTHER COMMUNITIES, COLLECTIVES, AND SPACES WHO SHARE THIS VISION—MUSIC COLLECTIVES, DIY RADIO STATIONS, GRASSROOTS FILMMAKERS, ARTIST-RUN SPACES, AND INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING PROJECTS.
THIS ISN’T ABOUT CREATING ANOTHER SCENE—THOSE EXIST IN ABUNDANCE. IT’S ABOUT MAKING SURE THE INDEPENDENT CREATIVE ECOSYSTEM CAN COLLECTIVELY LAST.
A TAPESTRY OF INDEPENDENT music SPACES
South Africa’s independent music scene is diverse, but often fragmented—each collective, label, and DIY space carving out its own path, sometimes at the cost of long-term sustainability. We believe that by fostering collaboration over competition, we can help strengthen this ecosystem, ensuring that these spaces don’t just exist but thrive.
Our vision is to work alongside the platforms and artists already shaping alternative music, by creating shared spaces, pooled resources, and sustainable structures that support independent culture in the long run. Below are some of the communities we’d love to collaborate with, each playing a vital role in expanding the creative landscape.
Communities in the independent music ecosystem That we’d like to Collaborate with:
We Did This Records: A record label hosting Noise Nights in Johannesburg. Collaborative events could feature a curated selection of artists participating in Noise Nights.
False Online: The punk scene of Soweto. Collaborations could involve organizing punk shows with our contribution of a diverse lineup of artists as well as more accessible location for those from the city and surrounding neighbourhoods and townships.
Lilies Radio: The Only remaining independent local online radio—we’d love to use some of our space to regularly house their broadcasts as well as continue or GUSHER FM* Radio show thrpugh them.
Kids Love Jazz: A jazz initiative from Narow Bi. We envision hosting jazz shows and fostering a space for jazz appreciation and performance in an inclusive space.
The Good Times Co: Featuring bands on their roster like Club Valley and Sex Tape, as well as Cape Town-based groups like Blue Vow and Sold Ash. Collaborative efforts could include organizing indie rock shows and supporting emerging talent.
Quit Safari: an electronic record label. Partnering with them could lead to some interesting interpretations of curated live electronic music events within our space.
Our long-term vision includes eventually hosting a curated festival encompassing these diverse scenes and communities, with each representing a subsection or a stage, fostering a rich tapestry of alternative culture. We acknowledge that there are likely more emerging and undiscovered spaces, and we aim to create a comprehensive database to document and collaborate with these entities on individual projects before bring everything all together. By writing about the shows and artists involved, we contribute to a growing catalogue of South Africa’s alternative music landscape.
BUILDING A FUTURE
FOR INDEPENDENT FILM
South Africa’s independent film scene is nearly non-existent—not because of a lack of ideas or talent, but because filmmaking here is heavily institutionalized. Access to equipment, knowledge, and resources are locked behind film schools, grant applications, large scale production companies and commercial work. Many aspiring filmmakers end up working in advertising or corporate media just to sustain themselves, while original, independent cinema remains rare. Outside of student projects, which rely on borrowed university resources, very few films get made without major funding, and those that do are often one-off projects rather than part of a sustained movement.
We want to change that. Our goal is to create a film incubation space where emerging filmmakers—whether students, self-taught artists, or complete newcomers—can access gear, collaborate, and develop projects without the gatekeeping of institutions or commercial constraints. This isn’t about pushing people into the traditional industry pipeline; it’s about facilitating a peer-driven, resource-sharing community where projects circulate, crew and casts form organically, and films are made consistently rather than as rare exceptions, creating our own pipeline is what independent cinema in this country needs. Through workshops, screenings, and community-driven productions, we aim to build an alternative cinema space—one that doesn’t just tell South African stories but actively reshapes how they get made.
Independent Filmmaking in South Africa:
A Glimpse at What’s Possible
While the independent film scene in South Africa is still small, there are notable examples that demonstrate both the creativity and potential within our community outside of institutions. Films like scott-paton levin’s ‘Childhood’s End’, which was made by a high school student with limited resources, scored by independent music curated by lunathi kondlo via GUSHER SOUND*, which shows that it’s possible to create meaningful and impactful work without large budgets or institutional support. But these projects remain the exception, not the rule.
We have had the privilege of contributing to this landscape, having created our own film in cape town last year, through the advantage of being film students and having access to college resources to make personal work, and we understand the struggles of working within these confines. However, we believe that with the right infrastructure, more filmmakers can break past the barriers created by resource scarcity. That’s why we’re committed to creating a sustainable and accessible platform to help support consistent, independent cinema. Our initiative is not just about providing equipment or space—it’s about nurturing a community that works collaboratively, not just for one project but for an ongoing creative movement.
Sustaining and Strengthening the Network
Our mission has never been to compete with these spaces or other artists but to connect and strengthen the ties between us & them, as well as them with each other. A unified creative community is stronger, more sustainable, and better equipped to carve out long-term alternatives to traditional industry structures. With this grant, we aim to continue our work—not just as artists, curators and observers, but as facilitators, producers, and active participants in the future of independent culture in South Africa.
