The International Institute of the Arts (IIA) at the University of the Free State (UFS) has launched The Village Hub: Audio Storytelling Residency, led by award-winning theatre maker and cultural producer Napo Masheane.

Presented as part of the IIA’s Artist in Residence programme, the residency is supported by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, with additional backing from Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council. It brings together creative practitioners, students, and communities in a shared process of storytelling, research, and production.

Masheane is joined by long-time collaborators Erik Altorfer, a playwright and director, Martin Schütz, a cellist and electronic musician, and percussionist Volley Nchabeleng. Their combined expertise introduces an international and interdisciplinary dimension to the residency.

Reimagining oral traditions through sound

For more than three decades, Masheane has worked at the intersection of theatre, memory, and identity. Born in Soweto and raised in Qwaqwa, she is known for advancing African women’s narratives and indigenous knowledge systems. Her work includes A New Song, staged at the Market Theatre, and the founding of the HerStory International Theatre Festival.

The Village Hub extends this work by drawing from Basotho oral traditions, where stories are shared through memory, rhythm, and communal exchange. Within the residency, these traditions are translated into contemporary audio formats, creating new ways for audiences to engage with them.

The programme brings together between 20 and 30 students from disciplines including drama, literature, humanities, media, and spoken word. Working alongside community elders and local storytellers, they collect oral histories that are often under-documented or at risk of being lost.

These stories are then developed into original audio scripts, with a strong focus on HerStory – narratives centred on women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ communities.

From community voices to creative production

Over four weeks, participants move from fieldwork to production. They experiment with voice, character, rhythm, and sound design, producing layered audio works that combine storytelling with soundscapes and archival material.

The residency culminates in the Village Hub Audio Storytelling Installation, presented at the HerStory International Theatre Festival. The installation invites audiences into a curated listening environment where sound, memory, and lived experience come together.

Elements of the residency will also feature in the forthcoming film Lesotho – The Kingdom in the Sky, which highlights Masheane’s contribution to theatre-making and African feminist storytelling.

Building a living archive of African stories

By bringing community knowledge into conversation with academic enquiry and artistic practice, the residency positions storytelling as both cultural scholarship and creative work.

Students gain practical skills in research, writing, performance, and production, while contributing to a growing archive of African narratives. These are stories rooted in place, memory, and lived experience.

With plans to expand into a Pan-African network, develop digital archives, and tour the installation across the continent, The Village Hub signals a growing movement to preserve and reimagine African storytelling.