Hooray for WAFF, the Pretoria food, wine & art festival targeted at people of colour

While wine, art and food go together like the Migos (Google them if confused), Pretoria seemingly turns the trio into an awkward quartet.

At the forefront of trying to change this image is Thabo Nkadimeng, an organiser of the inaugural Wine, Food and Art Festival (WAFF).

We caught up with him to find out how he planned to make the capital more wine-festival friendly.

Wine festivals are fairly common in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Are they as common in Pretoria and, if not, why?

They're quite common in Pretoria, they're just not as inclusive as WAFF. The majority of them cater only for white people with some even labelled and marketed in Afrikaans. I have attended most of the big festivals in Pretoria and I always seem to be one of 10 black people there.

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Why are wine festivals in Pretoria and perhaps in general not targeted at people of colour?

In terms of Pretoria, segregation is still big and you see it more at lifestyle events and the choices of where people go over the weekends.

There are still very few inclusive places in the city. Secondly, there is a problem with the perception people have about wines in general.

They feel they can't relate to wine and so they don't drink it. which is why you find the more ''educated" or higher middle-class individuals consuming it as opposed to the average individual.

How would wine festivals aimed at people of colour differ from those aimed at whites?

I believe it's in the way the message is put across to the market. We've had people ask us what happens at a wine festival, which genuinely shows that not everyone is familiar with the concept, let alone wine itself.

The challenge is educating the market about wine and how to enjoy it.

With time, and with more events of this nature popping up, they will eventually become appealing.

That's how more people of colour will attend events like this in Pretoria.

Why add the art element to the festival?

Much like wine, art is grossly misunderstood by the majority of people, so we decided it would be a good idea to fuse these elements to bring about a different lifestyle feel to the event.

The venue is also a heritage site/museum, so it plays well into the concept, as festival-goers have the option of going for a museum tour, enjoying the art element and also enjoying the wine.

Who are some of the artists you will be featuring and why were they chosen?

Kabelo Moraloki, Patrick Maseko, Siya Tembe, Siyabonga Ndlandla and Alvin Ngwenya.

All of the artists were hand- picked and are from Pretoria.

These are guys that are heavily vested in the industry and have been trying to get a platform to grow their reach.

They'll also be doing live paintings at the event and three of them will be doing 3D optical illustrations.

The live paintings will consist of the artists depicting what they will be visualising at the festival from the angle that they will be placed at.

• WAFF takes place tomorrow at Freedom Park Pretoria. For tickets visit webtickets.co.za.

• This article was originally published in The Times.