Friends of the Cape Town Museum

The Friends of the Cape Town Museum were established in late 2021 and on 16 May 2022 a management committee was formally constituted with Lauren Jacobs unanimously elected as its chairperson.

The Friends CTM is a voluntary, membership-based group and a key stakeholder in the Cape Town Museum project. Our aim is to serve as an important link between the Cape Town Museum and its community. Membership to this group allows for the opportunity to be part of the Cape Town Museums’ memory-making process of mapping and sharing stories of Cape Town.

The Current Friends Committee:

Lauren Jacobs - Chair

Lauren Jacobs is a multi-award-winning author, radio journalist and researcher who specialises in women's history and the Ancient Near East. As a global social justice journalist, Lauren has worked to amplify women's stories, as well as their own voices, through advocacy and media for over a decade. In 2018, Lauren was a speaker at TedxCapeTown, her talk entitled "A Forgotten History, where are our women?" highlighted the need to actively curate and tell women's stories from history. In 2021, she won the prestigious International Michael Brown Change Agent Award in the U.K., as well as the Panache Woman of the World Award.

Geoffrey de Vartek - Vice-Chair

Geoffrey de Vartek’s family have lived in Cape Town for over five generations. Geoffrey achieved a BA Humanities with Majors in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Stellenbosch. He was Elected as Editor of the Western Cape Railway History Group, Chairman of the Western Province Miniature Locomotive Society, and Chairman of the Cape Town Society of Model and Experimental Engineers. Geoffrey’s area of expertise lies in Cape Town’s Railway history and its technical environmental and social impact. He has assisted in event planning and exhibition management and is keen to assist the Friends in providing a space for Capetonians to share the history of their city.

Committee Members:

Craig Neethling

Craig Neethling was born in 1969 in Kimberley, arrived in Cape Town in 1981, and has since settled in Table View. Craig is passionate about discovering, researching, and presenting history to people, specifically the history of the Cape. Being a very sociable networker, Craig uses social media platforms to bring historical information to friends and all other people who are interested in our historical heritage. Craig is proud to be part of the Committee of Friends of the Cape Town Museum and look forward to making a positive difference in the future of this institution.

Heidi Erdmann

Heidi Erdmann holds a BA Psychology (Stellenbosch) 1987 and MA Visual Studies Cum Laude (Stellenbosch) 2021. Her research focus lies with national art museums and the formation of national imaginaries. She founded LEGACY in 2021, and this unique curatorial service has presented its first project at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2022). She has been actively involved in the arts, culture and heritage sector since 1993. She is the author of Manfred Zylla: Art & Resistance (2011) and a contributor to a range of national and international art publications. She serves on the Council of Amazwi South African Literature Museum (Makhanda) and the Afrikaanse Taalmuseum and Monument (Paarl).

Lindeka Qampi

Lindeka Qampi became a career photographer in 2006 after joining a consortium of photographers known as lilso Lanantu (“the eye of the people”). For the past decade, Lindeka has focused her lens on daily township life, particularly Khayelitsha where she has lived since her teens. Her photographs express the poetry and politics of the ‘ordinary act’ and therein the potential of imagining new possibilities for the future. Since 2011 Lindeka has used the camera to fight homophobia, hate crimes and awareness alongside developing her own career. She has been the project facilitator for Inkanyiso, an activist platform founded by fellow photographer, Zanele Muholi, for which they were acknowledged with a Brave Award.

If you want to be part of the process of shaping the Cape Town Museum’s narrative - join our membership and add your voice. We want this museum to flourish and for that to happen, we need this museum to make its community its participants and not only its audience. Join today, our membership is free and open to all.