By: Lucky Khanyile

Dr Rene Smith, acting dean for the Faculty of Arts and Design, promises a consolidated and bigger Digital Festival in Durban University of Technology’ s (DUT) city campus.

This second annual event will be officially opened to invited guest on the night of the 10th September and open to the public the following day until the 12th.

This year, the festival is guaranteed to be a feast of arts for enthusiasts, fusionists, writers and lovers of digital lifestyle.

According to Dr Smith, this year the festival will be more complex.

On Friday, high school groups will get a chance to view works and artefacts by students and staff members of the faculty, as well as get career guidance under Arts and Design.

“The first year of the festival was experimental.  It was the beginning of a movement to promote design and the arts in general and specifically in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal,” said
Smith.

Smith revealed that this year’s event seeks to “showcase the use of technology in design and the arts, while it shows more staff work,” unlike the first one.

“Last year there was only one main staff exhibition.  This year you will see more staff work on show,” Smith said.

Smith stated that this year’s theme, ‘My story, your story, our story’ is aimed at getting students involved.

She said, “As an Arts faculty, we welcome engagement and critique; students are encouraged to interrogate the idea of individual and collective stories, especially in relation to identities,
race, gender constructs, and heritage for instance.

We all have stories to tell and we need to hear these different voices.

If we are to move forward as a country, we must be inclusive.”

The university is looking at emphasizing the importance of teaching, learning and research as the core of work.