Published: November 27th, 2015
While Plett Rage is mostly about school leavers having fun and celebrating their new-found freedom, the festival has also grown to include initiatives to benefit Bitou’s underprivileged youth.
Learners on Plett Main Beach during Plett Rage 2014.
For the fourth year organisers of the festival, which kicks off in Plettenberg Bay on Friday, November 27 and runs until December 5, will be embarking on their Rage 4 Good campaign.
“This is the official socio-economic initiative of the Plett Rage student festival and focuses on social inclusion, economic growth and development as well as community upliftment and seeks to inculcate a sense of social responsibility in the youth attending Plett Rage,” said Nicola Probyn of Firecracker, the marketing agency of the initiative.
Probyn said the festival owners approached Firecracker to develop the corporate social responsibility programme as they felt there was an opportunity to give back to the local community and so that the youth could benefit from the student festival coming to Plett every year.
“They felt something should be done out of respect to the community and to engage Ragers in social upliftment initiatives.”
Probyn said before embarking on any projects they would first gauge the needs of the community. “In the past we have worked with local charity, The Bitou 10 Foundation, to identify these. This then forms the basis of our focus for the year. Rage 4 Good also donates the profits of merchandise sales to the Bitou 10 Foundation.”
As part of this year’s activities festival owners have extended an invitation to matriculants from the local community to enjoy the opening night of the festival at VIP Super Club on Friday, November 27, free of charge. “They wanted to do this as they wanted local students to feel included in the celebrations that happen in their own town.”
About 90 matrics from the Plettenberg Bay Secondary School will be given tickets to attend the opening and 16 festival passes will be awarded to learners who have achieved or worked hard throughout the year.
Another 60 matriculants from Murray High School will also be given tickets to the opening while 10 students will receive a week pass.
This will include transport and food vouchers.
Rage 4 Good will also be hosting an art project which is set to create awareness around climate change and environmental sustainability. Two 2.5m metal structures, that resemble feet, have been built, and Ragers will be given the opportunity to decorate these structures using recycled material to symbolise their carbon footprint.
It will be constructed on Central Beach by Plett Ragers between Saturday, November 28 and Sunday, November 29.
“The sculptures will then be donated to Plett Secondary School to decorate their school grounds and to leave a legacy of Plett Rage 2015.”
On Friday November 27, Plett for Good will also host a Christmas party at the Masizame Child and Youth Centre for 160 children from the shelter. Each child will receive a party box with food and a small toy. “We will also be donating a mini-library to their resource centre and provide teachers training on how to use the resource.”
