The Mama Project Envisions What the World Can Be Through Arts, Creativity & Culture – In Cape Town

Sara Stackhouse was feeling pretty low in 2016. The rhetoric in the US election cycle had gotten ugly and hurtful, particularly against the most vulnerable. She and her family had previously worked in an orphanage in Cape Town where a post-apartheid society was still very evident in the gaps of opportunity, income and education, especially for the women she met in the townships, so many of whom are the cornerstone of their families and communities yet are rarely recognized, listened to, or invested in.

What she heard in the US wasn’t encouraging either. “’Build a wall, Keep them out, Go back to where you came from’ – It’s just the opposite of what humanity should be working toward,” said Sara recently. “How can we weave back together what we have ripped apart?”

The power of creative arts to repair and restore.

The fractured world was simply unacceptable to Sara. Something must be done. “What can I do? What do I know how to do?,” she asked of herself. After several years in theater production and arts management, she knew one thing for sure: arts, culture, and creativity bring people together, nurture understanding and help people and communities to thrive. Sara had witnessed first-hand in her own projects and decades of work in the arts field how making art, engaging in creativity, and sharing culture can help weave people together cross cultures, races, religion, language and economic levels.

It’s almost predictable: Diverse groups come together for a committed purpose, to create a shared “thing” – something of beauty, something to be proud of individually and collectively. This shared purpose, this coming-together was needed now, more than ever.

“What would be an extreme way to encourage a coming together? Go with what you know,” Sara decided. “So over Facebook, I brought together women I knew from Cape Town and US, including Xhosa-speaking Black Africans, Coloured women who speak Afrikaans, white students and women from wealthier suburbs in Cape Town, missionaries from a range of countries, and a crew of artists from Boston.” Sara knew that bringing diverse women together to help each other across divisions required a set structure for fostering empathy and trust.

“I asked the question: ‘Will the arts lift us up? Will the arts help us to understand each other?’ – and out of that came The Mama Project and our first shared project in 2017.” (Go here to see three annual themes and projects.)

The group determined that post-apartheid South Africa, specifically in the poor neighborhoods of the townships and informal settlements, is a necessary place to work in as we strive to understand how to bring people together across hard lines, break down boundaries…and create beautiful things that inspire people to be thriving, healthy and proud.

The Mama Project – Where Women and Art meet

Based in Boston, The Mama Project works with women from Cape Town townships in South Africa and female artists from Boston, as well as women from other nationalities and under-resourced communities, for a purpose: to create opportunities for women to meet and develop relationships, share culture and, yes, make art. The intended effect is two-fold: to build individual confidence as a woman and a mother, so that all women can thrive, and to model how art and creativity can help people from different cultures to better understand each other.

Many participants in The Mama Project face challenges of extreme economic depression, poor education, racial divisions, community drug use and family trauma. The Mama Project invests in women who often feel invisible, and it provides opportunities to develop skills and confidence, build bridges, and emerge as respected leaders within and between their communities.

Art-making, music-making, storytelling and self-expression of any kind are critical to the health of individuals, families, communities and societies. Research has proven that the pursuit of creative arts is restorative and productive: the arts lead to better human health and well-being, aid recovering from trauma, and contribute to academic and professional success as well as economic progress.

“With all these benefits – and there are more! – we still don’t see arts and culture as a primary strategy with the leading development aid and community development institutions in the world,” explained Sara. “You see significant investments in education, health and medicine, sports, workforce development, missionary work – why not Arts and Culture when the data shows it is so effective?”

The Sharing Model with Creative Arts Works …

After three annual themed projects, The Mama Project has proven the data isn’t wrong. As Sara affirms, “We have a model that works…people can see it!”

The effectiveness of the model is way bigger than the (massive) effort to organize and develop art projects and bring Boston artists together with women across Cape Town. It is seen in how connected the women become, across the world and different worlds. The sustained communication via WhatsApp, and special projects through the year serve to lift everyone’s daily lives. Boston and Cape Town women share hopes, fears, life struggles and celebratory events. “I didn’t get my driver’s license” (bad – public transportation is almost nonexistent)…”I am graduating!” (good – access to education is a struggle).  And then they meet to create beautiful things together.

Watch a simple activity become a creative and unifying force, led by Boston volunteer Vonnie Brown: The Scarf – Journey of the Imagination.

A Women’s Leadership Council for The Mama Project was established last year in Cape Town, made up of nine women from participating communities (Malmesbury, 7de Laan, Strandfontein and Khayelitsha), Project Coordinator and Music Director Asanda Kupe of Cape Town, Sara, and general manager Heather Stern, a faculty member in arts administration at Suffolk University and a former Broadway stage manager.

“Huge wraparound services are required on our part, both here in Boston and in Cape Town, “ explained Sara. “It is almost insurmountable to overcome the life that binds the women we work with – the poverty barrier that keeps them down. That life gets in the way of organizing. For instance, there may be no one to watch the children, no air time on phone and no money to buy it – no communication! – no transportation, and on and on. We design the themes and projects, but the major achievement is dealing with the logistics surrounding the art programs.”

Sara’s surprising insight, “The Mama Project has made me realize how much transportation and technology equal freedom – especially for women and mothers.”

… and Lives are Changed!

Individuals are being lifted up to opportunity, confidence and making life changes. A good example is Alutha Taho, who Sara knew as the daughter of a staff member at the Cape Town orphanage where her family worked years ago.  When The Mama Project launched, Sara learned that Alutha was a rising singer/songwriter and commissioned her to write a song for the project. Her song Together We Can was learned and performed by the entire group in 2018, which led to a professional recording in 2019, and was then shared internationally. This summer, Alutha was accepted to and attended the world-renowned Berklee College of Music summer program in Boston.

“Through the project, we all learned to sing back-up on Alutha’s song. One woman then shared, ‘I didn’t know I could sing!’ Another woman once said, ‘I can’t be in the play because I can’t read.’ But we said, ‘Yes you can be in the play. Here are the lines. She memorized and practiced and practiced and did it! She was glowing!”

This year, The Mama Project welcomed several daughters (18-22 years old) of original participants to the project. They heard their mothers talking so much about how wonderful The Mama Project is – and they have seen the positive effect in their families – that they wanted to come too. The intergenerational impact can’t be underestimated: we stand on shoulders!

The spiritual well of unity-in-diversity and unconditional acceptance sustains the whole group.

Sara describes a feeling of blended respect and dignity: “There is something fulfilling about standing in a meditation circle with people of different colors, different views – different from you! – to make you feel one. We breathe a lot in unison, inhale and exhale, in meditation and singing. Then we consciously and intentionally share it with the world. Every time we get together we ask someone to offer a blessing, to bring a version of their beliefs. In this way, people know they can bring their whole self to our work –no checking a portion of themselves – and we welcome it all. This year we welcomed prayers in Arabic and Wampanoag languages, and a young teenager shared a poem she wrote about The Mama Project.”

It’s a vision of the way the world can be, and what Sara believes humanity should be doing: working toward weaving us all together.

Sara’s Tips: What can you do to weave your community together?

You’re the one to do it. Does your community feel divided? Think how you might be the one to invite different people under one roof to make something, eat something, share something – to come together. It can change your community. Sara knows, it might help change the world, a township at a time!

Create. Have a dinner party and put paper and colored pencils on the table – share personal stories along with doodles. With glass jars and tissue paper you can make lanterns for autumn and winter nights. Teach each other to cook something and share a meal.

Don’t make art, just make something. Excellent tip from Sara’s friend Miranda Aisling, who was on The Mama Project team in 2019. Come together, draw something, put it on a wall. Create beauty together! The world will be better for it.