Sparkling new sponsorship for JGF - - Bruce Jack Wines and Jack Journal

*Bruce Jack Wines – new sponsorship for JGF*.

*Bruce Jack Wines graces the now famous dinner table at Paulet House where mentors and mentees partake in Chef Gilbert Van Zyl’s hearty gourmet meals.*

With the Jakes Gerwel Foundation (JGF), and genre-affiliated partners’ mentorship and residency programmes expanding by leaps and bounds annually, we are thrilled to receive sponsorship from Bruce Jack Wines SA (Pty) Ltd, who support inclusive upliftment in the arts on many levels. They have also included an invitation to publish selected works by our writers in Jack Journal, the company’s magazine.

*From the vine to the table – the vines at Bredekloof where the flow grows.*

JGF / LitNet and Huisgenoot’s Kommadagga Workshop mentee Danie Kriek samples the joy that Bruce Jack Wines promise is in every grape, barrel, bottle and glass. Fellow mentee Gaasitwe Setshedi waits for the verdict.

JGF Executive Director Theo Kemp says Bruce Jack’s generous offer of “sponsorship will truly make a big difference to our budget and will be thoroughly appreciated by the writers staying over in our writers’ house!”

“As an NGO we are always in need of support in all kinds of ways.” To date 101 emerging and established writers have benefitted from mentorship or residency at Paulet House in Somerset East, since it swung into operation on 21 February 2019. Not even the COVID-pandemic could dampen the momentum of writers being awarded a much sought-after place in one of the programmes and showing up for their craft,

*Here’s to the music played by the little children just starting out.* .

*Learning to play with the help of Head Start Music Trust.*

*Here’s to the fine company of writers upskilling their craft in mentorship with two of South Africa’s finest writers Rachelle Greeff and Niq Mhlongo. Pictured is mentee Yuwinn Kraukamp.*

JGF offers support and mentorship to talented individuals who need a helping hand in refining their writing skills for the publication of their books or short stories. Or for performance at Suidoosterfees where playwrights premiere their plays and songwriters perform their songs which they worked on, in mentorship at Paulet House. Or a place in one of two residencies for established writers needing uninterrupted time to work on their books

Formed in 2013, JGF advances the life work of Professor Jakes Gerwel who was best known as the former rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Western Cape and as the director-general in the presidency of the late President Nelson Mandela.

*Two workers bottling the joy at the source.*

*Unpacking the bottles in the dining room at Paulet House in Somerset East are: mentor Rachelle Greeff and mentee Liziwe Ndalana.*

The broader mission is to develop and “promote education, the arts, cultural activities and social justice in South Africa” while the aim is to promote and expand South African literature in general, especially Afrikaans which was Professor Gerwel’s field of expertise.

The focus areas of the programmes include “enriching South African literature; assisting with new perspectives and sharing of new experiences; supporting emerging writers and new voices; encouraging reading and promoting literacy among the youth.”