The Artist as Activist: Panel Discussion

The French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) is hosting the Artists as Activist event: a panel discussion and exploration of social movements at the intersection of protest, climate activism and arts practice.

‘The Artist as Activist’

Art and performance have always inspired action, built community and challenged authority in ways that words cannot. In this panel discussion IFAS brings together a group of experts to explore the intersection between art and activism, underscored by South Africa’s long history of cultural resistance.  The speakers will share experiences and reflect on how context may shape aesthetics of dissent, as well as galvanize action and give a voice to marginalised groups. Together, the speakers will touch on why creativity and arts approaches are essential for robust social movements.

Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2025

Time: 14:00-16:00

Venue: The French Institute of South Africa, Creative Platform space, 62 Juta Street, Braamfontein

RSVP here.

Panelists:

ally walsh has worked in community arts, prison theatre and scholar-activism in SA, Greece and the UK for over 20 years. Her recent work has been on youth participation, spatial violence and dispossession and she is following up a first book Prison cultures: Performance, resistance, desire (Intellect, 2019) with Harm & repair in contemporary South African performance: Resisting injustice (Bloomsbury, 2026). She developed the Arts Activism toolkit with Alex Sutherland and Paul Routledge in 2021. Working in abolitionist activism in the UK, she is Professor of Performance and Social Change at the University of Leeds.

Cherae Halley is an actor, lecturer, theatre maker, and applied theatre facilitator. She holds both honors and master’s degrees in Dramatic Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand. Cheraé has made an impact as an independent contractor, using theatre as a powerful tool to address socio-political issues in communities across South Africa. Her work in areas such as HIV/AIDS, disability, sexual harassment, gender equity, LGBTI rights, human rights, and oppression has garnered admiration and recognition. She is currently the Head of The Market Theatre Laboratory and based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Pablo Routledge has been active in the anti-roads, alter-globalisation, and climate justice mobilizations in the UK, Europe and Asia. He has worked extensively with indigenous, peasant farmer, anti-dam and labour activists in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand. He is trained in theatre of the oppressed and has co-organised creative and arts activism workshops in Leeds. He is an Emeritus Professor in Contentious Politics and Social Change at the University of Leeds, and presents the Dissent Dispatches: voices from global rebellion podcast at East Leeds Community Radio.

The panel discussion will be chaired by Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga, a performance artist and provocateur, working at the intersection of paradox for purpose. She inhabits many roles as an independent academic, writer, researcher, interdisciplinary dramaturg and arts activist. In her role as research co-ordinator for VIAD’s Radical/Others (Visual Identities in Art and Design) at the University of Johannesburg, Nondumiso integrates an interest in decolonial feminist praxes with indigenous knowledge systems and Black Radical Thought.

Link to Arts Activism Toolkit.