The Cape Town Festival kicks off with the first of its annual IN TOUCH Community Festivals in Atlantis - a first for this community - on Saturday 11 February. Entitled My Atlantis, Our Festival, in line with this year's festival theme, this community has put together a day of music, dance, visual comedy, poetry and enthralling circus acts. From 09h00 until 19h00 community talent will be showcased at the Westfleur Park Stadium. Entrance is free and more than 2000 people are expected to attend.

Gert Bam, Director of Social Development for the City of Cape Town said: "Atlantis is one of the zones of poverty that the City of Cape Town has targeted to build social cohesion. One of the most effective ways to do this is to uplift the artists in the community and to emphasize the importance of cultural heritage to the people of this community. The Cape Town Festival provides an excellent platform to achieve these objectives."

Each year the IN TOUCH Community Festivals create direct and indirect employment for approximately 1000 artists and events organisers. 'The IN TOUCH Community Festivals are a celebration of community culture, showcasing the exceptional artistic talent inherent to the people of these communities, says CEO of the Cape Town Festival, Yusuf Ganief. One of the objectives of these mini-festivals is to attract people from different communities to partake of the culture in neighbouring townships and villages, and our headline acts have been selected with this in mind. '

Read more on activities in Cape Town during the Cape Town Festival 2006.
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Find all information on the 2008 Cape Town Festival Events.