Zayd Minty is a cultural producer and researcher based in Cape Town, South Africa. He was a Rockefeller research fellow at Emory University, Atlanta, in the Center for the Study of Public Scholarship and is currently an AW Mellon Fellow reading for a Phd in Human Geography at the University of Cape Town. His thesis focuses on culture led urban regeneration and the "Just" city. His interest in public urban space, and in Cape Town especially, has seen him most recently consulting on the development of Creative Cape Town, new strategy area for the Cape Town Partnership aimed at using culture for urban regeneration in the central city. One practical project out of this initiative is Goemarati, a project that promotes the local creative industries of Cape Town. Currently the project focuses on music through a concert series, a mobile vendor and an e-commerce site.
He is currently a research associate of the Isandla Institute - an urban studies think tank. He recently drafted a discussion document for the organisation on cultural diversity in Cape Town entitled: Culture and the Right to the City: Diversity in the Cultural Ecology of Cape Town.Before he began a journey as a researcher, he curated a number of significant contemporary art projects, festivals, dialogic forums and conferences through an independent curatorial and production company: ONE (the cultural production company) during this time he produced a range of project including: A Place Called Home (2004), BLAC (1998 - 2003), Returning the Gaze (2000), Liberating Zones (2003), and The VANSA Conference on visual arts: Transformation | Growth | Opportunity (2006). He has served at a senior level in a range of cultural institutions including the District Six Museum (2003 - 2005), Robben Island Museum (1997-98) and The Community Arts Project (now AMAC) as well as on a number of high level boards. He is currently on the board of The Magnet Theatre Company and on the Cape Town Partnership board
Zayd is fascinated by Carnival and has been involved with a group of people in invigorating the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival working with the Western Cape Street Bands Association on an exciting initiative. More on this in due time...