Lesedi Shubane

Lesedi Shubane is a cultural producer and arts manager working at the intersection of art, culture and social impact. She recently led the British Council’s Arts programme in South Africa, designing national initiatives that strengthen cross-cultural collaboration and creative economies. Previously, she managed pan-African immersive media grants and fellowships and designed award-winning campaigns at Participant Media (USA), linking film to policy and civic action.

Her practice focuses on accessibility, cultural exchange and equitable partnerships across Africa, Europe and North America.

Shubane is an alumni of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ GOLD Development Initiative and the Global Cultural Relations Programme, an initiative of the European Union. She completed her BFA in Film as a UWC Davis Scholar, where she won the Emerging Service Leader Award. She is currently based in Johannesburg.

Lesedi Shubane is a fellow of the “Focus International” program, which was launched in 2023 in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (BMKÖS). The program invites young cultural practitioners from Moldova (2026 – 2028) and South Africa (2025–2027) to Austria to complete two-month internships at selected art institutions in Vienna. The aim is to provide participants with valuable professional experience while also enriching the host institutions through their collaboration and perspectives.

During her residency at MQ, Shubane will support the team of WIENWOCHE, where she will develop Relational Geographies, a practice-based research project embedded within the festival’s organisational and curatorial processes. The project explores how cultural initiatives merge artistic practice and activism to make social, political and cultural debates visible and accessible to diverse publics. Through active participation in open call coordination, archiving, project communication, and PR and website support, Shubane will examine WIENWOCHE’s strategies for collaborative cultural production and community engagement. Alongside hands-on contribution, the residency will include conversations with artists, curators and partners, as well as reflective documentation of WIENWOCHE’s working methods. The project aims to generate transferable insights into socially engaged cultural work and strengthen transnational exchange between Vienna and South African cultural contexts.