Share

Key Trends

By WCCF Editor
Image courtesy of the City of Johannesburg

Johannesburg Art Gallery collection protection and rehabilitation. A phased City programme is securing the collection in museum-grade interim spaces while advancing the refurbishment of the heritage-graded gallery and its long-term public use.

Hip Hop Museum – the construction and completion of the first ever Hip-Hop Museum within the Newtown Cultural Precinct and juxtaposed with the ethnographic, geological, anthropological and photographic collections within Museum Africa.

Integrated Transport Network – The Johannesburg Development Agency is expanding the rapid bus network across the city, ensuring seamless movement of people in safe, cost-effective and sustainable ways. This has a meaningful impact on the creative economy. 

Joburg City Theatres’ technical renewal. Capital works are renewing stage machinery, technical equipment and building systems across Joburg Theatre, Soweto Theatre and Roodepoort Theatre. Each theatre has constructed a wall of fame to recognise the leading creatives within the city.

Johannesburg City Library restoration and reopening. Reopened in August 2025 after heritage and building upgrades, the library again provides reading, research, archival, learning and public cultural space in the inner city. The library has a significant art research department.

Related topics: hip hop, Johannesburg art gallery, South Africa, Infrastructure, Johannesburg

Related City Projects

Key Facts

  • Township sounds with global reach. Kwaito remains a defining post-apartheid form, while Johannesburg’s artists, dance cultures, venues, radio and digital networks continue to carry amapiano into global music and popular culture.
  • A growing African art and design marketplace. FNB Art Joburg, RMB Latitudes, world-class galleries, open-studio routes connect artists, curators, collectors and audiences, strengthening Johannesburg’s position in the continental visual-arts economy.
  • Hybrid creative livelihoods. Audio-visual media, design, publishing, music, fashion and digital production increasingly combine formal firms, freelancers, informal enterprise and platform work, while new technologies reshape skills and routes to market.
  • Living heritage and rights-based cultural tourism. UNESCO-recognised liberation sites, museums, archives, heritage routes and community knowledge are linking conservation with education, dialogue, tourism and intergenerational participation.
  • Culture-led regeneration under equity pressure. Newtown, the inner city and Soweto demonstrate culture’s place-making power, while safety, affordability, transport, infrastructure maintenance and displacement remain central concerns.

Refine your search