Venues

Tafel at the Homecoming Centre

The District Six Museum's Homecoming Centre

"The HCC (Homecoming Centre) of the District Six Museum, is a multi-purpose eventing and education space and an amalgamation of arts, performance, learning & community.

It features purposeful spaces including the Star Theatre, the Avalon Auditorium, Bits 'n Pieces galleries, Tafel, workspaces and an on-site café run by the team at the HCC Café.

Each space has its own story to tell and like District Six itself, celebrates the rich culture and history before it."

More information can be found on the HCC's website.

Exterior of HCC Building,

from the District Six Museum website

The 'Tafel' Hall

The Homecoming Centre is home to many varied-purpose venues, including Tafel: a spatious hall with a raised stage to suit New Encounters' talks, workshops and discussions.

Entrance to HCC, from the District Six Museum website

An interior view of Tafel, from the HCC website

Getting to Tafel

Address:

HCC Homecoming Centre, Corner Buitenkant St. & Caledon St., District Six, Cape Town, 8001

Uber

When you are ordering an Uber, enter the address above.

MyCiTi Bus

There are several routes that you can take, depending on where your accommodation is. You can find a link to the route maps and timetables here. A practical guide to using the service can be found under Travel Guidance.

Walking

If you are staying near the Homecoming Centre, it is likely you will simply be able to walk there.

A bit about District Six

"District Six before its destruction under Apartheid, was a community representative of diversity on a number of levels – language, religion, economic class, geographical area of origin – and became a living example of how diversity could a be a strengthening characteristic of a community and need not be feared. It was a vibrant community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants, with close links to the city and the port. It represented the polar opposite of what the Apartheid government, inaugurated by the National Party coming into power in 1948, needed people to believe and internalise. District Six thus became one of the main urban targets for destruction in the city of Cape Town.

On 11 February 1966 it was declared a white area under the Group Areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. More than 60 000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers."

source: districtsix.co.za

The bulldozing of District Six area during the 1960s.

The District Six Museum

"The Hands Off District Six Conference of 1988 led to the formation of the District Six Museum Foundation in 1989. The Foundation worked towards the establishment of the Museum which was launched on 10 December 1994 with its inaugural exhibition called Streets: Retracing District Six.

Leading up to this, the Museum existed as a peripatetic movement between 1989 and 1994, building support for the work of memory through creating collecting points and storytelling opportunities in different parts of the city. The diaspora of District Sixers played an important role in shaping and contributing to the Museum’s exhibition and programme, and they continue to be pivotal to the ongoing work of memory and holistic restitution. Their desire to return and re-member is ever present in this work.

The Museum’s first physical location was in the historic Methodist Church building at 25A Buitenkant Street which to this day is the home to its permanent exhibition – Digging Deeper. Since the early 2000s, the Museum has expanded into the historic Sacks Futeran building one block away, at 15A Buitenkant Street, which has aptly been named ‘The District Six Museum Homecoming Centre.’ This address has become a popular venue for events such as conferences, seminars and book launches, and is also the place where most of the Museum’s programmes are held.

A large component of the Museum’s work takes place outside of its buildings: on the vacant site of District Six, within the returned community of families who have been successful land claimants, and in the various areas to which the displaced families have been forcibly removed.

Linking its work to the experiences of people from other sites of forced removals across the country has been an important thrust, and partnerships continue to be a source of strength and support. The Museum is a member of SAMA (the South African Museums Association) and of ICSOC (the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.)"