Painting a brighter future

Art gives inner-city youth a chance to show what they can do.

Life can be a matter of day to day survival for disadvantaged youth in inner-city Johannesburg. The Little Artists School helps these young people realise what they can achieve.

At free art classes held twice a week, up to 40 young people aged 6 and up gather to paint, eat and socialise together. The experience of making art teaches them valuable life skills, among them the importance of preparation and self-discipline. The project also provides exposure to positive male role models these youth can relate to.

The work they produce is exhibited and entered into competitions, building self-confidence and aspirations.

Some of the young people who first picked up a paintbrush at Little Artists have gone on to become art teachers and award-winning artists. Co-founder and school principal Edward Selematsela, Andrew Ramarutha Makoba, Lazarus Ramontseng, Hines Matshoba, Bheki Mthethwa and Boderick Somana have exhibited all over the world.

What people are saying