PETER TAKELO

Gold Medal RECIPIENT 2021

PETER TAKELO

Peter Takelo is a deeply committed arts educator and the director of Net Vir Pret, which presents daily arts classes for several hundred children, arts-based after-care and holiday care, and feeding programmes in the area. Takelo established a recording studio at Net Vir Pret and a programme with NICRO that helps to rehabilitate youth who have been involved in crime. Net Vir Pret operates a toy library for children and Takelo has established mathematic literacy projects for children with learning disabilities, using drumming techniques. He teaches children from Barrydale music and dance, including competitive ‘riel’ dancing. Takelo is passionately interested in ecological education and conservation.

MOTIVATION BY THE CENTRE FOR HUMANITIES RESEARCH (CHR)

The CHR works with Net Vir Pret in the programme, which ends in a puppetry and arts production at the end of the year. The children learn musical skills, reading, narrative construction, visual design, sound design, puppetry design and manipulation and performance skills. The CHR’s team of dedicated artists facilitates this process, in which Peter Takelo and Derek Joubert are indispensable. We nominated them for Gold Medal awards for their commitment to arts education and nurturing the potential of the rural child.

Image credit: Net Vir Pret