CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL KITE FESTIVAL
CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF BRINGING HOPE THIS OCTOBER!
For the last 30 years, the Cape Town International Kite Festival, Cape Mental Health’s flagship event, has brought #HopeOnAString as colourful kites of all shapes and sizes take to the sky each October to create mental health awareness. The sky becomes a radiant canvas that symbolises the freedom, creativity and joy of mental well-being, shared by families, friends and communities. Each tug of a string is a reminder of the strength and resilience within us all. Together, we can lift one another up and paint the world with vibrant hues of hope and possibility.
“Kites rise against adverse winds, not with it.” – Winston Churchill.
Join Cape Mental Health this October for the Cape Town International Kite Festival to raise funds that fuel the vital mission of providing essential, cost-free mental healthcare services and interventions to those who require them most. By investing in children and youth, we lay the foundation for the prevention of mental health disorders, empowering young people to unleash their full potential and pursue their dreams without limitations.
“We live in challenging and difficult times. Many economic and dire social conditions impact on our mental well-being as we navigate storms and adverse conditions. It is in these times that we direct our sails to provide mental health interventions that invest in lives and give back hope, build and strengthen resilience and empower individuals and communities. Despite the fragility of the string, it allows the kite to fly higher and higher, rising above the circumstances that life throws our way. #HopeOnAString brings a message of hope, potential and encouragement.” – Dr Ingrid Daniels, CEO Cape Mental Health.
Over the past 30 years, the Cape Town International Kite Festival has grown from a small one-day event to an international kite-flying event that hosts local, national and international kiters, pop-up flies, community flies, Edukite Competitions, kite-making workshops and achieves over R5 million worth of mental health media exposure and mental health awareness investment.
As the event grew, new elements were added to create greater attraction and increase opportunities for mental health awareness that allows for inclusion and integration of children, youth and adults with mental disability. Several adjustments were made during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that the kite festival could proceed, albeit in a different format. Dr Daniels describes the primary goal as finding a theme each year that facilitates the massive mental health awareness and promotion campaign, ultimately facilitating a pathway that encourages early intervention and mental health support.
“It is the opportunity to ensure that the conversations regarding mental health are normalised.” explains Dr Ingrid Daniels, CEO of Cape Mental Health.
CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL KITE FESTIVAL | POP-UP FLY EVENT
The Cape Town International Kite Festival’s annual Pop-Up Fly Event will take place at Melkbosstrand Beach on Sunday, 27 October and feature extraordinary local professional kiters such as Mari and Bradley Ware-Lane, Bobby Gathoo, Brian Skinner, and others – as well as a few international surprises! Come and experience the magnificence of their show-kites as they support mental health awareness!
Over the past 30 years, the Cape Town International Kite Festival activations have played a significant role in allowing people to speak freely, without fear of labels, about their mental health. The event allows artists, mental health ambassadors, staff, mental health care users, volunteers and everyone to share their stories of pain, healing and recovery. Every conversation that matters chips away at stigma. The Cape Town International Kite Festival is a stigma-reducing enabler that facilitates non-judgmental and non-discriminatory conversations.
OTHER ACTIVITIES & EVENTS
As part of Cape Mental Health’s aim to uplift less fortunate communities and the most marginalised of people, the Cape Town International Kite Festival will once again feature its annual Community Fly at Heideveld Sports Field on the Cape Flats in October 2024. Cape Mental Health invites children with intellectual disability from CMH’s Special Education & Care Centres in Heideveld, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to join in the fun at the community fly, as well as other Grade R learners and preschools in the Heideveld community.
The Cape Town International Kite Festival will also host its EduKite Competition – a kite-decorating and kite-making competition for learners from mainstream primary school schools and schools for children with special educational needs, with monetary prizes for the winning teams.
Take your kite to new heights, capture those enchanting moments in photos and videos, and spread messages of inspiration for mental health awareness this October. Share your kite-flying adventure by tagging #HopeOnAString and @
ABOUT THE CAPE TOWN KITE FESTIVAL
Since 1994, Cape Mental Health has proudly hosted the Cape Town International Kite Festival, Africa’s oldest kiting event, dedicated to raising funds and advocating for mental wellness. To learn more about the upcoming 30th Cape Town International Kite Festival, visit www.capementalhealth.co.za/
CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL KITE FESTIVAL CONTACT:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CTKiteFest
Twitter: @CTKiteFest
Instagram: @CTKiteFest
Hashtags: #HopeOnAString and #CTKiteFest
Explore the captivating content on the CTKiteFest website, featuring an array of activities, and embark on a virtual journey to ignite your creativity and foster an appreciation for the art of kite flying.
