About us - The Happening

The Happening NPC is a non-profit company that aims to showcase a new and different way of doing events. Inspired by the AfrikaBurn/Burning Man ethos & principles, we aim to bring people together to create magical experiences, free from corporate influence and sponsorship. We believe that communities can come together and create magic through participation in creative endeavours.

We are a team of people that volunteer our time for free, as we believe in the transformative experience that an event like this can bring.

Decommodification

In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

We therefore do not accept sponsorships for The Happening event or any of its components, should this require any form of advertising at the event. People are encouraged to gift their time, their craft or any other gift they feel would contribute to the community/event.

Artists that perform or showcase their work at the event are also making a gift in that they are not compensated for their performances at the event.

We do however recognise that people have to make a living in the city, and therefore we have stalls at The Happening where artists can sell their craft as well as their art. We curate the stalls carefully to ensure we do not have corporate stands, but rather hand-crafted home made goods /art as far as possible.

Businesses in the street also need to make a living and they benefit from sales on the day. However, businesses contribute to our culture by gifting artists and activities in their space at no cost.

Gifting by artists