BRIMFUL OF ALEX: The hope inside Alexandra’s creative revival
A grassroots initiative aims to transform Richard Baloyi Street in the historic Johannesburg township into a cultural precinct.
In Johannesburg's Alexandra township, there is a grassroots effort to transform Richard Baloyi Street into a cultural hub. Thatho Mary-Ann Marolen Ngcobo, the founder of the Kula Marolen Foundation, believes that the area has great potential to become a creative heritage hub. Ngcobo notes that while Vilakazi Street is well-known, Alexandra is not receiving the same attention or investment.
The Kula Foundation, a women-led organization focused on heritage, arts, and environmental issues, aims to nurture and develop Richard Baloyi Street into a vibrant cultural precinct.
Alexandra already possesses many of the necessary elements for such a transformation. The street boasts a rich history, heritage sites, blue plaques, beautiful murals, and ample foot traffic. Nearby, the Alex Heritage Centre, which focuses on the Dark City era when apartheid residents were deprived of electricity, is in need of restoration and exhibits powerful stories. The museum and street also suffer from frequent power and water shortages.
Ngcobo outlines various ways to breathe new life into the precinct, including improved lighting, converting street-level spaces into micro-retail incubators for artists and crafters, partnering with local food spots, and establishing youth-focused digital areas. She also hopes to train community members as security guards and tourism ambassadors.
The Kula Foundation hopes to partner with tourism groups and community organizations, as well as initiatives like Jozi My Jozi, to create a street where people can gather, enjoy local food, and immerse themselves in history.
In addition to the Alexandra Heritage Art Precinct, the Kula Foundation works on several other projects. They collaborated with the Alex Water Warriors to clean up the Jukskei River and train local youth and elders in macramé and crochet techniques to create litter traps from plastic waste. The Kula Loves Alex Green Corridor is another project, turning local streets into green boulevards.
The foundation also operates the KulaKasiKitchenAid program, building vertical food gardens to improve food security and promote sustainable urban farming, and runs a local manufacturing hub producing eco-friendly lifestyle products such as handmade bottle holders and shopping bags.
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