Major gift from Wits alumnus Chris Seabrooke will help fund R341 million arts, culture and lifestyle precinct that will connect Wits to the City. 

Wits University is proud to announce the development of a R341 million Wits Cultural Precinct, a major investment in the arts that will change the University’s south-eastern edge in Braamfontein into an accessible lifestyle hub for arts, culture, performance, heritage and creative innovation, while contributing to the regeneration of Johannesburg.  

Firmly embedded within the academic programme, the five-year development will expand, integrate and link Wits’ existing arts, performance and heritage facilities to create a vibrant cultural gateway between Wits and Jozi. It will bring together new and upgraded academic facilities, theatres, exhibition and performance spaces and enhanced lifestyle areas, opening more of Wits’ creative life to Joburgers. 

About the Wits Cultural Precinct

Embedded in the Faculty of Humanities and the Wits School of Arts, the Precinct will include the world-class Wits Art Museum, the Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, a state-of-the-art Digital Arts building and an additional floor for the Wits School of Arts. The next phase will consolidate Wits’ Music facilities, which could provide a future home for a Symphony Orchestra, new exhibition and foyer spaces, Fine Arts facilities, the Wits Theatre Amphitheatre and a new building and rooftop extension that will open up the Wits Theatre Complex. 

Restaurants, coffee shops, book shops and other lifestyle spaces will be incorporated within the Precinct. 

Wits in the City

Prof. Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, says that the development reflects Wits’ commitment to Johannesburg and its belief that universities have an important role to play in the social, cultural and economic life of their cities. 

“The University and the City of Johannesburg have grown together for more than a century. We cannot separate the future of the University from the future of this City. The Cultural Precinct is about opening Wits to Johannesburg and creating spaces where students, artists, scholars and the public can meet, create and exchange ideas,” says Vilakazi. “Through the arts, we can help breathe new energy into Braamfontein and contribute to the renewal of this City, the financial and industrial hub of South Africa. The Wits Cultural Precinct is uniquely positioned to both advance the academic goals of the School of Arts and develop the cultural capital of Johannesburg.” 

Unique gift from Chris Seabrooke

A major catalyst for the development is a ‘groundbreaking’ transformational donation of shares from the Seabrooke Family Trust to the Wits Foundation. By arrangement with the Trust, the Wits Foundation will have the right to sell the donated shares through block trades or in the market over the estimated five-year term of the project to provide the necessary liquidity for the project. 

This major donation by Wits alumnus Chris Seabrooke (MBA 1985) will fund the majority of the estimated capital cost of R341 million needed to build the Wits Cultural Precinct, with Wits co-investing the balance, which will create a lasting public precinct to benefit the people of Johannesburg. 

Chris Seabrooke (MBA 1985) is the CEO of Sabvest, who has served as the director of 27 listed companies over the years. He has also served as the former Chairman of the State Theatre of South Africa and as Deputy Chairman of the inaugural National Arts Council of South Africa.  

“The arts have an extraordinary ability to bring people together and to change the character of a place,” says Seabrooke. “Our hope is that this investment will enable Wits to create a precinct that belongs not only to its students, staff and academics, but to Johannesburg. We want to help build a place that attracts people to Braamfontein, supports creativity and leaves a cultural legacy for generations to come.” 

Embedded in the Academy

At the heart of the Wits Cultural Precinct, will be the Wits School of Arts, bringing its academic disciplines and creative work into closer conversation with the public. Digital Arts, Film and Television, Fine Arts, Music, Theatre and Performance, Drama for Life, cultural policy and visual cultures will form part of an interconnected creative ecosystem. 

Prof. Mucha Musemwa, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities explains: "The Faculty of Humanities and the Wits School of Arts eagerly welcome the Wits Cultural Precinct. This visionary project will enliven Braamfontein, embody our public ethos and extend bridges to new and historically marginalised communities. It represents the aspirational ‘public futures’ of arts and humanities, revitalising our teaching and reshaping Wits University's mission." 

Prof. Rene Smith, Head of the Wits School of Arts, adds: "As the home of distinctive, innovative, southern African creativities, located in - and enabled by - Johannesburg, WSOA sees the Wits Cultural Precinct as a space and place that responds to pedagogical shifts and new epistemologies. Our studios, seminar spaces, and labs as ‘public sphere’ (offering open spaces and live crits, for instance) enables the advancement of teaching, research, collaboration and residencies, that is engaged, informed by, and informing, location and positionality."  

Joburg’s Cultural Arc

The Wits Cultural Precinct is located within a wider Johannesburg cultural and innovation ecosystem that includes the Joburg Theatre, the Market Theatre, SciBono, the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Constitutional Court, amongst others.  

“The ambition is to create a destination that draws people into the area, increases interaction between Wits and the public, and positions the University as a cultural anchor for Johannesburg, South Africa and the continent,” adds Vilakazi. 

The Wits Cultural Precinct forms part of a broader programme through which Wits, with the support of its partners, is investing in Jozi and opening its knowledge, heritage, science, sport and cultural assets to wider society. It follows major recent investments in the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome and the Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex. Wits is home to several other Museums including the Origins Centre, the Wits Fossil Vault, and the Adler Museum of Medicine. Further afield, the Wits Sterkfontein Caves were recently refurbished and opened to the public.  

Partnership with JoziMyJozi

Innocent Mabusela, CEO of Jozi My Jozi, welcomes the development as an important contribution to the wider revitalisation of Johannesburg. 

“Johannesburg’s renewal depends on institutions, businesses, communities and government working together to connect the City’s people, cultural life, public spaces and local enterprise. The Wits Cultural Precinct is a catalytic investment: it will open a major institution to the City, create accessible spaces for artists, students, audiences and entrepreneurs and translate culture into meaningful opportunity. This Precinct can bring energy to Braamfontein, strengthen Johannesburg’s cultural ecosystem and share the benefits of investment more broadly.” 

Together, these investments signal a wider ambition for Wits to lean into Johannesburg and help shape its next chapter, helping to create a more connected, vibrant and accessible City where knowledge, culture, innovation and community intersect. For Good. 

About Chris Seabrooke

Chris Seabrooke is an investor and financier from Durban where he earned the Academic Dux of Durban High School. He completed Economics and Accounting degrees at the then University of Natal before completing a Master of Business Administration degree at the Wits Business School. Seabrooke has served on the boards of 27 stock exchange listed companies over the years on the JSE, Nasdaq, Luxembourg and LSE AIM exchanges and currently serves as the CEO of Sabvest Capital Limited which he founded in 1988. He is a former chairman of The State Theatre of South Africa and was the deputy chairman of the boards of the inaugural National Arts Council of South Africa and Business and Arts South Africa. He has co-produced numerous stage productions and was nominated for a Tony Award as producer of Meet me in St Louis on Broadway.