youth through the medium of music and dance.” At the centre of
the life skills programme is comprehensive HIV/Aids education.
Parents who can afford it and are serious about a good education
for their children will include in their recreational activities some
sort of artistic activity. The discipline and focus that they learn
provide essential life-skills, which will serve them well in any
path they may take when they grow up.
The Field Band Foundation brings this opportunity to all those
young people who through poverty still suffer from the injustices
of the past, in other words those who need it the most. We
envisage bringing this project to 6000 youth by 2012.
FBF members from different areas across SA work together at
performances, workshops and competitions and through this
interaction, learn understanding and respect for other cultures,
building the nation. Exchange programmes with Norway,
Flanders, and the USA and bursaries provide opportunities
to experience other countries learn new skills and broaden
perspectives.
Field Band Foundation background
• The Field Band Foundation was started in 1997 to bring
the global marching band concept to disadvantaged
areas of South Africa.
The Field Band concept is built on the global youth activity
known otherwise as show bands. This specific discipline was
chosen first for the long historic presence of brass music in
South African communities. This activity also allows for large
group participation. All 17 projects of the Foundation have a
minimum of 125 youths actively involved.
Using the vital role that arts play in social inclusion and
development the Foundation has identified its role as follows:
“To create opportunities for the development of life skills in the
• Through participation in band activities, young people
who might otherwise have little opportunity for constructive
recreational activity are taught the advantages of such
things as application, competitiveness, teamwork,
discipline and timekeeping.
• In so doing, the advantages of heightened self-esteem
and associated self confidence are inculcated.
• The Foundation’s beneficiaries are youngsters of whom
57,3% come from households of unemployment, while
58,8% live with single parents or with grandparents or
guardians. The average age of band members is 14,6
years old, while 54% are female and 80% have not had
prior musical training.
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