Beyond the Festival: How AVIJOZI Is Connecting Africa’s Creative Talent to Opportunity

From skills development and industry connections to African-owned intellectual property, AVIJOZI is working to build a creative ecosystem that turns talent into sustainable careers, businesses and economic opportunity.

Africa’s creative industries are rich in talent, ideas and stories with the potential to reach global audiences. Yet turning that potential into sustainable economic value requires more than creativity. It requires access to skills, funding, professional networks, technology and opportunities to bring original work to market. This is the challenge AVIJOZI is working to address.

A free, community-led festival bringing together creativity and technology, AVIJOZI connects people across film, animation, visual effects (VFX), gaming, music and other creative disciplines. Under the leadership of founder Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt, the initiative is developing an ambition that extends beyond an annual gathering: to become a platform where creative professionals can build relationships, access opportunities and contribute to a stronger African creative economy.

AVIJOZI has grown from 1,000 attendees at its first edition to close to 5,000 in 2025. For Maketo-van den Bragt, however, growth is about more than audience numbers. It is about changing how people view creative work and whether they can build a sustainable future within the industry.

“I would like to see more people entering the creative industries not for fun and games, but because they recognise them as a viable and meaningful career,” she says.

Her ambition is for AVIJOZI to become “the anchor event for Africa’s creative and technology industries”, attracting participants from across the continent and internationally while contributing to the economies of Johannesburg and South Africa.

That vision places opportunity at the centre of the festival’s purpose: helping creatives move from talent and ideas to meaningful professional relationships, viable employment and commercial success.

Connecting Talent to Practical Opportunity

For emerging creatives, talent is only one part of the equation. Access to experienced professionals, industry knowledge, funding and employment opportunities can determine whether a promising idea develops into a sustainable career.

AVIJOZI’s approach recognises this gap by combining networking with practical skills development. Its programming includes masterclasses, hands-on workshops and opportunities for emerging artists to showcase their work, with a focus on disciplines such as film, animation, VFX, gaming and artificial intelligence.

One initiative, “Show Us Your Reel,” gives emerging artists a space to present their work and receive feedback. For Maketo-van den Bragt, the programme addresses a barrier that is not always visible: talented people who have yet to find the confidence or opportunity to put their work in front of an audience.

“Many talented creatives work quietly. Their work is personal, and putting it into the world can feel exposing,” she explains. “Show Us Your Reel gives them a room, an audience, encouragement and feedback. For us, it is how we discover talent that would otherwise stay hidden.”

The initiative reflects a wider principle behind AVIJOZI’s approach. Access to opportunity is not simply about knowing that jobs or projects exist; it is also about having the confidence, skills and professional visibility to pursue them.

Masterclasses and practical workshops complement that model. As Maketo-van den Bragt puts it, “Hands-on workshops remain part of the experience too, because practical engagement is where skills stick.” By bringing emerging talent into the same space as established practitioners, AVIJOZI aims to help close the distance between learning a skill and applying it in a professional setting.

Preparing Creatives for the Future of Work

AVIJOZI’s 2026 theme, “Pulse of Change,” reflects uncertainty around artificial intelligence, employment and the future of work. While AI creates new possibilities, it has also unsettled assumptions about creative roles, the skills employers will need and how people can remain commercially relevant.

Maketo-van den Bragt says the theme emerged from listening to the community and understanding the questions people are asking about the industry. “In the months before AVIJOZI, I am constantly listening; what people are talking about, what worries them, what excites them and, most importantly, what they need,” she says.

That listening has informed a programme focused on jobs, markets, funding and connections, as well as direct conversations about AI. For young people graduating with creative and technology qualifications, the uncertainty is tangible. As Maketo-van den Bragt observes, they are asking a fundamental question: “Will I be able to make a living from this?”

AVIJOZI’s response is to create a space where those concerns can be discussed openly, while giving participants practical ways to navigate change. “I want people to leave anchored: knowing that opportunities exist, that their creativity has value and that they are not navigating this industry alone,” she says. The aim is not to dismiss the disruption brought by new technology, but to help creatives understand it and consider how they can adapt. As Maketo-van den Bragt explains, “The question is whether we shape it or simply react to it. At AVIJOZI, we choose to shape it.”

Why African-Owned Intellectual Property Matters

For AVIJOZI, African-owned intellectual property is a central part of the conversation. Africa’s stories and cultural experiences offer significant creative possibilities across film, animation, publishing and gaming. Yet developing those stories into commercially successful projects requires investment, industry expertise, distribution opportunities and an understanding of intellectual property rights.

Maketo-van den Bragt captures the importance of ownership in a principle that underpins this vision: “If we do not own our stories, we do not own the value they create.” The point extends beyond seeing African stories represented on screen. Ownership can influence who benefits from a project’s success and whether its commercial value can support further creative work.

An example is The Polygamist, which adapts an African story from book to screen. Moving a story between formats can create new ways to reach audiences and expand its commercial potential. For African creators, the opportunity is to build original intellectual property that can develop across different platforms while retaining meaningful participation in the value it generates. Achieving this requires a combination of creative ability and business knowledge. Creatives need to understand how projects are financed, how rights work, how partnerships are structured and how content can reach audiences beyond its initial market.

Building the Next Generation of African Animation

Animation offers another example of how creative talent can contribute to a wider economic ecosystem. The sector brings together storytellers, illustrators, designers, animators and technical specialists. It also creates opportunities to develop original characters and narratives that can reach audiences across different markets and formats.

However, building a sustainable animation industry requires more than individual projects. It depends on developing a pipeline of talent, supporting original ideas and creating pathways from training and development into production. AVIJOZI’s animation focus intersects with wider industry efforts, including support from the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and Chocolate Tribe’s NFVF Animation Slate, a three-year commitment to developing African animation.

These initiatives highlight the importance of sustained investment in skills and creative development. They also point to the potential for collaboration between industry bodies, production companies and emerging talent.

For participants, opportunities to learn from established professionals and understand the production process can help turn creative interest into practical industry experience. For the wider economy, developing animation capabilities and African-owned intellectual property can strengthen the foundation for future projects, employment and international partnerships.

Learning From the Global Reach of African Music

The international growth of Amapiano and Afrobeats demonstrates the potential for African creativity to attract audiences around the world. Their success offers lessons for other creative disciplines, including film, gaming, animation and visual effects. Local stories, sounds and ideas can find international markets, but lasting commercial value depends on the infrastructure and relationships that support their development.

That includes access to funding, professional networks, distribution channels and the knowledge required to navigate global industries. For AVIJOZI, the broader opportunity is to encourage similar ambition across the creative economy: supporting African talent not only to produce work, but also to develop original intellectual property and build sustainable businesses around it. The objective is not simply international exposure. It is to strengthen the ability of African creatives to participate in the economic value their work creates.

Beyond the Annual Gathering

The impact of a creative festival cannot be measured by attendance alone. Its longer-term value depends on what happens after the event: whether introductions lead to collaborations, whether emerging talent finds work and whether conversations develop into projects or partnerships.

AVIJOZI has seen examples of these connections taking shape. Maketo-van den Bragt recalls how Sabelo attended the festival’s first edition and met someone who became his business partner. When she encountered him at another event, he explained that he had missed a later edition because he was busy building their new venture. “That is the very essence of why we created AVIJOZI,” she says.

Another example involves filmmaker Mandla Dube, who connected through AVIJOZI with the artist who worked on his comic, Yasuke. Creative companies have also met future employees and collaborators through the festival, while business deals and international partnerships have developed from relationships formed there.

These stories illustrate the role professional connections can play in an industry where work is often project-based and opportunities may be spread across different networks. For Maketo-van den Bragt, the goal is to ensure that the value of those connections does not end when the festival closes.

That is why AVIJOZI developed its Job Board, which lists employment opportunities, funding calls and programmes across the cultural and creative industries. “AVIJOZI should not exist for one or two days a year,” she says. “We are building an ecosystem of long-term connections, viable employment, business opportunities and access to information.” She adds: “The real measure of our success is not how many people attend. It is what happens because they attended.”

The Job Board is one way of extending the festival’s usefulness throughout the year, helping people stay connected to opportunities even when they are not gathered in the same room. It also reflects a broader understanding of what creative industries need to grow: not only places to showcase work, but networks that connect talent to employment, funding, collaborators and markets.

Johannesburg’s Place in Africa’s Creative Economy

AVIJOZI’s ambitions are closely linked to Johannesburg and the wider South African economy. The city brings together talent and businesses across film, television, music, design, animation and technology. Creating opportunities for these communities to connect can help encourage collaboration, develop skills and strengthen the relationships that creative businesses need to grow.

AVIJOZI aims to become an anchor event for Africa’s creative and technology industries, drawing participants from across the continent and, over time, international audiences.

That ambition reflects the potential of the creative economy to contribute to employment, entrepreneurship and the development of intellectual property that can travel into global markets. However, turning potential into sustained growth requires more than a strong creative community. It also depends on funding, industry partnerships, access to professional opportunities and mechanisms that help emerging talent progress into established careers.

AVIJOZI’s community-led approach seeks to create a space where those relationships can develop. Its free access model is intended to make participation more accessible, while its industry programming connects creative expression with the practical requirements of building a career or business. The wider opportunity is to strengthen Johannesburg’s position as a meeting point for creative and technological innovation while connecting South African talent to networks across Africa and beyond.

A Venue Reflecting the Future of Production

In 2026, AVIJOZI moves to VRtuosus, a virtual production studio that forms part of eMedia and is among the relatively few facilities of its kind in South Africa. The venue reflects the festival’s interest in the intersection between creative work and emerging technology. Virtual production is one example of how digital tools are changing the way stories are developed and produced, bringing technical capabilities and creative disciplines into closer collaboration.

The 2026 edition is planned as a one-day creative blitz built around the theme “Pulse of Change”. The format brings the community together to explore new ideas, share industry knowledge and consider how creatives can respond to technological shifts and changing professional demands.

Hosting the festival in a virtual production environment also provides a relevant setting for conversations about the future of filmmaking and the tools that may shape the next generation of creative work. As technology continues to influence production, access to relevant spaces, skills and professional networks will remain important to ensuring that African creatives can participate in the opportunities emerging across the industry.

Building an Ecosystem That Lasts

Through skills development, masterclasses, emerging talent initiatives, a focus on African-owned intellectual property and year-round access to opportunities, AVIJOZI is working to strengthen the connections that support a functioning creative ecosystem. Maketo-van den Bragt’s vision is ultimately about giving people both a reason to believe in the future of creative work and practical ways to participate in it.

When asked what she hopes people will take away from AVIJOZI 2026, her answer is concise: “Hope, and a clear sense that there is still a future to build.” That future, she believes, can be built through continued creativity, connection and collaboration, even in uncertain times.

For AVIJOZI, the festival is the meeting point. The larger goal is an ecosystem in which African creatives can build viable careers, African stories can retain their value and talent can connect to opportunities across the continent and beyond. As Maketo-van den Bragt puts it, “Even in uncertain times, we can continue to create, connect and build the future together.”e connections it creates.