MEDIA RELEASE 6 November 2006 Celebrating a city alive with passion for arts and culture MTN Foundation has as part of its extensive Arts and Culture portfolio, chosen to partner with the City of Joburg to bring you the CIT:Y (Creative Industry Talented Youth) Joburg Student Annual Festival that begins at the end of November and runs till March 2007. This exciting new festival aims to highlight the wealth of training providers of art, culture and heritage in the city of Joburg through a celebration of the many private and public schools providing training in the creative sectors of art, advertising, craft, design, dance, fashion, film, music and performing arts. It also serves to build skills in design and media as these demand growth around the continent. Director: Arts, Culture and Heritage, Steven Sack from the City of Joburg says, "We wish to encourage networking between schools and their students, in order to foster partnerships and an appreciation of the complete range of creative tertiary education facilities and choices available across the city. In our mission to increase the visibility of the institutions and individuals that graduate from them, we aim to reward and promote Joburg's emerging talent." MTN's support of this brand new project serves to strengthen existing private-public partnerships within the creative industry. "The MTN Foundation's support of the CIT:Y festival is a natural one, given our long standing support of Arts and Culture in the country. As a proudly South African brand and company, we believe Johannesburg is an African City that boasts most of the creative industry players and is well suited to hosting such an event. MTN understands the importance of creative thinkers and we would like to acknowledge all the participants of the festival and we wish them well," says Dr. Meshack Khosa, GM MTN Foundation. Attendees to the festival will be treated to award-winning creations by among others; Khayalethu Mtshali, Artistic Proof Studio, Imbali Craft Training centre and Wits School of Art. Sponsored by MTN, the gala awards evening on 29 November will recognise the schools and individuals who have shown immense passion and creativity in their chosen artistic disciplines. MTN will also sponsor three one-year bursaries to students studying in any creative industry, as well as brand new cellphones and copies of the inspirational 'Messages and Meaning' books that showcase the company's impressive collection of South African and African art. Ends Issued by: Sue Reddy Deputy Director: Directorate of Arts, Culture & Heritage Tele: (011) 373 7504 Fax: (011) 373 7512 E-Mail: suered@joburg.org.za