This is a new project that aims to document and make accessible the archival records of various South African community organisations, with emphasis on their contribution to the visual arts and visual culture in the apartheid era, as well as the post-apartheid contribution of community organisations with their roots in the earlier period.  

The first phase of this project focuses on archives in public and private collections in the western Cape. A second phase will see this documentation extending to archives in other provinces.

The following kinds of organisations are included in this scope: visual arts organisations; and 'cultural' and political organisations whose activities included the production of visual art, media and culture.

Examples of organisations whose archives (or fragmentary records) are held in the western Cape include (in more or less order of their formation): Community Arts Project (CAP), Nyanga Arts Centre, Scratch, Vakalisa, Gardens Youth Congress, Cultural Workers Congress (CWC), Visual Arts Group (VAG), Federation of Cultural Organisations (FOSACO), and the Arts & Cultural Development Network.

Documentation includes (or will include): records of meetings; reports on activities; press clips; photographs and media produced by these organisations, interviews. 

Anyone wishing to support this initiative in any way should email info@asai.co.za