On Monday 30 November 2009, 28 very excited Kwa-Zulu Natal primary school children boarded a bus to head off for an arts and culture adventure: TBWA\Group\Durban has sponsored the costs for the ‘management team' from each of the four Kwa-Zulu Natal schools at which the company has helped to set up a Room 13 art studio, to attend a Room 13 Lekgotla in Johannesburg.
Room 13 is a studio run by learners for learners, supported by an artist-in-residence, within a school environment. The learners manage the studio as a business, electing their own management team each year and the artist-in-residence is their employee, not their teacher. Room 13 has proven to be an extremely effective way in which to keep children off the streets - they are encouraged to express their creativity, but at the same time are equipped with knowledge and skills which will serve them in years to come.