The Cultural Centre of GugaS’thebe as a Transformative Creative Space

Culture is seen as important for employment creation, poverty reduction and area development in South Africa. This chapter considers the case of the GugaS’thebe, a multi-purpose cultural space in the township of Langa on the outskirts of Cape Town. We argue that this creative space is transformative – while the centre functions as a makerspace for local creatives, social development outcomes are also observed. GugaS’thebe is not a typical incubator initiative – the space is multi-generation and there is a critical mass of permanent local creatives among whom there is a strong sense of ownership and embeddedness.