Lesedi Shubane
area: Cultural Management & Social Practice
Key Facts
nationality
South Africaarea
Cultural Management & Social Practiceresidence
Johannesburgrecommending institution
BMWKMStime period
March 2026 - April 2026Lesedi Shubane is a cultural producer and arts manager working at the intersection of art, culture, and social impact. Most recently, she led the arts programme of the British Council in South Africa, where she designed national initiatives to strengthen intercultural collaboration and the creative economy. Previously, she managed pan-African fellowships and grants for immersive media and developed award-winning campaigns at Participant Media (USA) that connected film with public policy and civic engagement.
Her work focuses on accessibility, cultural exchange, and equitable partnerships across Africa, Europe, and North America.
Shubane is an alumna of the GOLD Development Initiative of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Global Cultural Relations Programme, an initiative of the European Union. She earned her BFA in Film as a UWC Davis Scholar, where she received 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 Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS). 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.