A passion for the performing arts and an innate calling to assist some of Nelson Mandela Bay’s most vulnerable residents have seen Gqeberha’s Nelisa Kala being nominated for the prestigious 2025 Forty Under 40 Awards SA in the community development category.
The 38-year-old founder of the Moving Arts Youth Academy is now looking forward to the glitzy gala dinner at the Marriott Hotel, Melrose Arch, where she hopes to take top honours in the category.
The awards annually recognise and celebrate 40 emerging leaders under the age of 40 who make their mark personally or professionally through their exceptional leadership.
Kala said winning the award would help to bring attention to her nonprofit organisation and particularly their Modal Interchange Moving Arts Programme that integrates arts therapy into traditional performance practice and training, among other things.
“[We were] working on the expansion of the programme, then I received a message on WhatsApp from a friend, saying ‘Yeah Yeah, Top Forty Under 40, well done’.
“I was like wait what, I was not expecting it and I had even forgotten about it.
“Winning the award would help to bring eyes on not only the organisation but also the incredible team that I work with,” Kala said.
She said her NPO existed to support organisations that worked with previously disadvantaged or vulnerable youths, aiming to offer emotional support.
They train children from the ages of seven to 17, and provide a platform for them to showcase their respective talents in the performing arts while providing them with emotional and mental support programmes.
“It is an interdisciplinary programme that runs dance, singing, theatre and visual arts.”
A pilot workshop with 60 children was held between January and March 2024.
In November 2024, a new programme kicked off with 444 children.
Kala said they intended taking the programme to Kouga and the Buffalo City metro to create the same opportunities for children in those regions.
“From the programme, we have seen kids that generally have violent outbursts having a reduction of the outbursts, children were able to express themselves a lot better and more clearly.
“We also saw a change in perception for the children that were on the programme.”
Voting closes on September 14 and costs R5 and people can vote for Kala on the Forty Under 40 website.
The Herald
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