08:30-9:00  Registration and Tea

09:00-09:05  Welcome address by Maaike Bakker (OW Academic Head)

09:05-09:10  Welcome address by Dr Francois Jonker
(CTCA Academic Head)

09:10-09:20  Welcome by the Research and Collections Department,
Gontse Mathabathe and Roxy Do Rego

Introduction to the OW Teacher’s Portal

09:20-09:50  Keynote Address by Prof Alison Kearney with Q&A

10:00-10:15  Tea and Change of Venue for the start of Panel Sessions

PANEL 1A: CO-CREATION AS EDUCATIONAL STRATEGY
Chaired by Gontse Mathabathe

10:15-10:45 Morne Venter (Open Window) with Q&A
Co-Creating Classrooms for Humans: Productive Friction for Meaningful Pay-off

10:45-11:15 Darius Botha (Open Window) with Q&A
The Educator as Dungeon Master: Co-Authoring Learning Through Systems, Play, and Emergence

11:15-11:45 Francois Jonker (Cape Town Creative Academy) with Q&A
Sketching out ‘Study’ as a Co-Creative Practice

12:00-12:45 Lunch Break

PANEL 1B: CO-CREATION WITH AI
Chaired by Gontse Mathabathe

10:15-10:45 Marihet Hammann (University of the Free State) with Q&A
The Human-in-the-Loop Orchestra: Co-Creating an AI Story through Nature, Whole-Brain Thinking and Audience Participation 

10:45-11:15 Larita Engelbrecht (Cape Town Creative Academy) with Q&A
Co-Creating with AI: Exercising the Ethical Use of GenAI in Research and Writing 

11:15-11:45 Stephan Calitz (Open Window) with Q&A
Preserving Creative Agency in AI-Assisted South African Game Development

11:45-12:45 Lunch Break

PANEL 2A: CO-CREATION IN ARTMAKING/CREATIVE PRACTICE
Chaired by Roxy Do Rego

12:45-13:15 Robyn Keet (Open Window) with Q&A
Creativity and Operational Logic 

13:15-13:45 Nande Hattingh (Heartfelt Creative Agency) with Q&A
Rewilding Creativity: Flow and Embodied Intuition through the Transcendental Sublime in Nature

13:45-14:15 Francois Jonker (Cape Town Creative Academy) with Q&A
Sharing, Hearing and Caring: Feedback Methodologies in the Contemporary Art Degree

PANEL 2B: LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACHES TO EDUCATION AND WELL-BEING
Chaired by Gontse Mathabathe

12:45-13:15 Felicia Morgan (Open Window) with Q&A
Learner-Centred Education and Well-Being in Higher Education: A Student Support Perspective

13:15-13:45 Llandi Beeslaar (Open Window) with Q&A
Facilitating Failure: Re-centering the Creative Process & Critical Thinking to Inspire Resilience in Creative Arts Learners

14:30-15:30 WORKSHOP PROGRAMME:
CONCEPT AND CREATION COLLABORATION

Llandi Beeslaar (Open Window)
The Power of Productive Failure Workshop

Callum Sutherland and Molly Roberts (Open Window)
Sublimation Station

Alison Kearnery (University of Johannesburg)
Showing Thinking: Strategies for Developing Students’ Literacies in the Classroom

Candice Edwards (Open Window)
Abstract Map Illustration Workshop

15:30-16:00 Exhibition
Opened by Gontse Mathabathe
Cheese & Wine networking at the end of the day.

Maaike Bakker
Academic Head (OW)
Welcome Address

Maaike Bakker (b. 1986) is an educator, artist, illustrator, and curator, serving as the Academic Head at The Open Window Institute for Creative Arts and Technologies. As an educator and maker, she prioritises creative collaboration, experimentation, and the exploration of alternative approaches within creative practice. Bakker has been working in the creative higher education space for over 15 years, teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Bakker is passionate about actively contributing to the growing South African creative industry and has participated in and facilitated multiple creative initiatives and exhibitions over the past decades. In her capacity as an educator, Bakker advocates for creating a space that fosters curiosity and trial-and-error attitudes in students.  

Dr Francois Jonker
Academic Head (CTCA)
Welcome Address
Sketching out ‘Study’ as a Co-Creative Practice

Dr Francois Jonker is a co-founder and the academic head of the Cape Town Creative Academy and a research associate of the Department of Visual Arts at Stellenbosch University. His research is concerned with challenging normative tendencies in higher education research, pedagogies, and assessment. He holds a joint doctorate from the University of the Western Cape and Utrecht University.

Prof Alison Kearney 
Keynote Address

Prof Alison Kearney is a South African National Research Foundation (NRF) C2-rated artist-scholar, currently employed as Associate Professor of Art History and Theory in the University of Johannesburg’s Division of Visual Arts within the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.
With over 20 years of experience in academia, Prof Kearney is committed to transforming research and pedagogy by exploring and developing methods of creating and sharing knowledge that foreground creativity, making, inclusion, divergent thinking, and working together for social justice for all. Through teaching, research, and artmaking, Prof Kearney proposes unorthodox ways of doing, thinking, and making that make use of experiential, ludic, arts-based pedagogies to stimulate curiosity and critical thinking amongst students. To connect with communities of scholars who share an interest in developing transformative arts-based teaching and learning practices, Prof Kearney co-founded the cross-disciplinary, Transformative Research in Practice (TRIP) Project with Dr Louis Botha and Dr Zaheera Jina- Asvat in 2022.
See Prof Kearney’s artworks and writing online: www.alisonkearney.co.za
On Instagram @the_museum_under_erasure
For more on the TRIP Project, online: www.tripproject.co.za
On Instagram @tripproject_za

Gontse Mathabathe
Head of Collection and Research Management (OW) | Host

Gontse Mathabathe is a designer, curator, researcher, and marketing strategist with over 13 years of experience in the creative arts sector. She is qualified with a Master’s degree in History of Art (Wits, 2020) and a Bachelors’ degree in Fine Art (Wits, 2016). She also holds a Digital Marketing Certificate (UCT, 2018). 

Mathabathe has extensive experience in marketing and communications in the arts, through her tenures at the National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC); Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA); Wits Art Museum (WAM); University of the Witwatersrand; Mma Hogany Clothing and Assemblage. Currently, she is the Head of Collections & Research Management, as well as the Curator of NOW Gallery at Open Window.

Dr Roxy Do Rego
Collections & Research Manager (OW) | Host
Learner Voices in the SA Classroom: Teaching Gender and Power

Dr Roxy Do Rego is an artist, academic, educator, and feminist. She received her PhD in Art History through the University of Johannesburg in 2020, with focus on gender studies in post-apartheid South Africa. With twelve years’ experience in education across multiple institutions, she was formerly an Arts Education lecturer and Creative Arts and Design teacher until joining Open Window in 2024. She has facilitated and led numerous public talks, conference panels, exhibition walkabouts and arts workshops. Her research interests lie in the intersect between femininity, gender as performance, mythology, and politics of desire as represented in visual art particularly by female artists, and she regularly publishes articles investigating these topics.

Morné Venter
Head of Department: Creative Technologies (OW)
Co-Creating Classrooms for Humans: Productive Friction for Meaningful Pay-off

Morné Venter is a creative thinker, artist, and educator currently residing in Pretoria. He completed his Masters degree in Information Design at the University of Pretoria in 2017. Venter is currently the Head of Department for Creative Technologies at Open Window, where he has specialised in facilitating learning in Interaction and User Experience Design since 2013. Venter has a deep interest in using workshop design as a learning tool in the classroom and has developed expertise in designing interactive environments that enable teams and students to collaborate effectively toward common goals.

Darius Botha
3D and Motion Design Lecturer (OW)
The Educator as Dungeon Master: Co-Authoring Learning Through Systems, Play, and Emergence

Darius Botha is a 3D animation lecturer and freelance multimedia designer whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, technology, and design. With a background in motion design, title sequences, and graphic design, he focuses on helping students move beyond software proficiency toward creative authorship and industry-ready thinking.

Robyn Keet
Lecturer: Creative Business Studies (OW)
Ethical Links to AI and How to Use It | Creativity and Operational Logic

Robyn Keet is an experienced creative business strategist and lecturer who is committed to helping creators build financially sustainable careers while preserving their artistic integrity. She serves as the Creative Administration and Creative Business Practice lecturer at Open Window and is the founder of Inner Voice Creative, a consultancy that empowers creators to turn their passions into profits.

Since 2019, Robyn has taught business development for creatives, offering practical industry insights and a growth-oriented approach to her teaching. With over 20 years of experience in the creative economy, she specialises in developing impactful curricula that foster entrepreneurial mindsets among emerging creators. Her innovative teaching methods prioritise real-world applications, utilising practical frameworks that connect creative expression with financial viability.

Larita Engelbrecht
Senior Lecturer: Contextual Studies (CTCA)
Co-Creating with AI: Exercising the Ethical Use of GenAI in Research and Writing

Larita Engelbrecht is a senior lecturer in Contextual Studies at Cape Town Creative Academy. In addition to teaching art history and critical theory courses, she is also a practising artist specialising in painting and collage. Engelbrecht received both a BA in Fine Arts (2009) and a MA in Visual Art (2012) (cum laude) at the University of Stellenbosch. In 2012, she was invited to an artist residency programme at a new media gallery in Finland. In addition to solo shows, her work has been selected in a number of group exhibitions and art competitions in South Africa, as well as for a travelling international exhibition, Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design. 

Stephan Calitz
Head of School: Animation Arts (OW)
Preserving Creative Agency in AI-Assisted South African Game Development

Stephan Cornelius Calitz (b. 1982) is an academic leader, animator, and game designer currently serving as the Head of School: Animation Arts at The Open Window. With over two decades of experience in the creative industries, his work focuses on curriculum development, academic strategy, and the integration of emerging technologies in film and animation arts. Calitz has led production for high-profile broadcast and commercial projects, including animated series and award-winning short films. His recent work includes the development of Virtual Window, an educational MMORPG and 2023 MTN App of the Year finalist. A SAFTA winner and Loeries-ranked top lecturer, he holds a BA Honours in Visual Communication and is a Master of Arts candidate.

Llandi Beeslaar
Lecturer: Screen Acting and Production Design (OW)
Facilitating Failure: Re-centering the Creative Process & Critical Thinking to Inspire Resilience in Creative Arts Learners

Llandi Beeslaar studied Drama at both the University of Pretoria and Stellenbosch University. She completed her Honours degree cum laude in the Drama Department at Stellenbosch University and is currently conducting research towards her Master’s degree on the Aesthetics of Failure in Performance. She spent the last five years teaching Live Performance as well as Critical Thinking and Writing at AFDA, and joined the Open Window team as a Screen Acting Lecturer in 2024. She has more than 11 years of industry-relevant experience, ranging from work in production, art department, directing, writing, and acting. 

Callum Sutherland
MakerSpace Technician (OW)
Sublimation Station

Callum Sutherland is an illustrator and creative practitioner with an Honours degree in Visual Communication, specialising in Illustration, from The Open Window Institute. She currently serves as the MakerSpace Technician at the Open Window Institute Johannesburg campus, where she works at the intersection of creativity, design, and physical fabrication.

Her work is centred on transforming two-dimensional ideas into tangible objects through processes such as sublimation printing, 3D printing, and sculpting. She is particularly passionate about guiding ideas from concept to physical form, and finds great fulfilment in seeing designs evolve from sketches or digital files into real-world creations.

Molly Roberts
MakerSpace Technician (OW) | Sublimation Station

Molly Roberts is a Gauteng-based sculptor and ceramic artist whose material-led practice explores the relationship between maker and material. Through hand-built ceramics, she investigates form, texture, natural systems, and social theory, often using rules and constraints to shape the creative process. A Fine Arts Honours graduate (with distinction) from the University of Johannesburg. She currently works as a Makerspace Technician at Open Window, where she supports emerging makers and fosters hands-on learning. Her practice spans making, curation and education, with exhibitions including solo presentations at No End Contemporary Art Space and Decorex Cape Town, group exhibitions with Kalashnikovv Gallery, and curatorial projects such as The Kids These Days at Keyes Art Mile.

Marihet Hammann
PhD Candidate (University of the Free State)
The Human-in-the-Loop Orchestra: Co-Creating an AI Story through Nature, Whole-Brain Thinking and Audience Participation

Marihet Hammann is the Founder and Managing Director of In Full Colour L+D and a PhD candidate in Higher Education at the University of the Free State. Her doctoral research explores the integration of AI-generated storytelling in Creative Arts teacher education, with a focus on human-centred creativity, ethical AI, teacher agency, and practical classroom directives. With 32+ years’ experience across education, learning and development, creative arts, facilitation, and assessment, Marihet works at the intersection of positive psychology, storytelling, whole-brain learning, and AI-enabled professional growth. Her work supports educators, facilitators, and learning professionals to design meaningful, future-fit learning experiences that remain deeply human in an increasingly technological world.

Candice Edwards
Lecturer: Drawing and Research (OW)
Co-crastination (Together Tomorrow)

Candice Edwards is a multifaceted visual artist and designer who dabbles in a host of mixed mediums ranging from assemblage, ink, charcoal, digital design, and more recently, she has started tattooing. Edwards holds a Masters (Summa Cum Laude) in Design, an honours in Information Design, and a Post-Grad in Higher Education. She has more than a decade’s worth of lecturing experience, and has also served her time in industry working for brands such as KFC, Standard Bank, and the Jaguar/Land Rover group. She is an exhibiting artist, who speaks broken French, is well travelled, has a weird fascination with teaspoons, and wears a lot of black.

Felicia Morgan
Student Support (OW) 
Learner-Centred Education and Well-Being in Higher Education: A Student Support Perspective

Sublimation Station

Join this hands-on workshop and you’ll learn the basics of sublimation by designing your own coaster to take home. See how a 2D design is transferred onto a coaster to create a finished, personalised product, and learn about the many other objects that sublimation can be used to customise.

The Power of Productive Failure Workshop

This workshop encourages you to reflect on your leadership style and to identify the obstacles that limit your effectiveness in the classroom. It serves as a practical extension of the conference paper Facilitating Failure: Re-centring the Creative Process & Critical Thinking to Inspire Resilience in Creative Arts Learners. While aimed at teachers, this workshop is open to anyone who wants to challenge themselves and refocus their energy to perform at their best. In this workshop you will learn: How to ask QUESTIONS OF VALUE to trigger Critical Thinking in your learners, how to CHALLENGE THE BELIEFS that keep you in a fixed mindset and move towards a growth mindset that Cultivate Resilience, and understanding the POWER OF HABIT when interacting with learners and getting them to engage and value the Creative Process.

Showing Thinking: Strategies for Developing Students’ Literacies in the Classroom

Most arts students tend to dislike art theory, failing to recognise the ways that learning about art discourses can enhance their artmaking practices. This negative attitude, coupled with the widespread availability of AI software, has led to increasing challenges for teaching art students visual and writing literacy skills. This workshop addresses challenges with student interest, and developing critical thinking and writing skills in the art history classroom. Participants will engage in practical writing exercises that develop visual literacy, and skills to articulate their thinking about images, in writing. Ways in which these exercises can be incorporated into theory and practical arts lessons will be discussed.

Abstract Map Illustration Workshop

This workshop explores the notion of creating order through visual harmony. Participants will start by creating a chaotic background by spilling tea and ink across the page, then, in the spirit of co-creation, exchange the page with someone else after it’s dry. The next participant will then see the spill as a terra incognita–an unexplored, unmapped land for them to cultivate. Through the use of abstraction, a non-representative map will be created to blend together visual harmony and movement. Emphasis will be placed on the use of negative space, balance and variety, and the creation of a striking focal point. Very beginner-friendly.