Et Cetera Opens At Old Breweries

Nothing says urban evolution like standing in a spot that used to be a popular downtown nightclub and finding it remarkably reimagined as a new art café and studio.

On an overcast Saturday evening, Et cetera opens to a curated crowd of founder Jaimee-Lee Diergaardt’s family, business associates and friends. For those who knew the large, warehouse-style nightspot in its heyday as Chopsi’s, the transformation is stark.

Gone is the busy bar at the Old Breweries. In its place is a minimalist white space boasting large industrial windows, rows of easel-topped work tables, an upstairs artists’ studio and an inviting wooden stage.

Diergaardt, known for her sought-after Something Artsy events, manages Et cetera’s opening with a light hand. McKane and John Dory’s provide festive welcome drinks as well as generous helpings of sushi. A selection from ‘Soul Speech’, Hage Mukwendje’s recent large-scale artworks, christen the studio walls as the artist live-paints near the inside bar. Later, Lingo takes the stage to perform some rousing R&B.

“The idea behind Et cetera is that it is an open arts studio,” says Diergaardt. “It is the home of Something Artsy. It is the home of art, fashion and music,” she says.

“I opened Et cetera because I felt Namibia needed an open arts studio where anybody can walk in and create or appreciate the arts. Namibia lacks safe spaces for creatives.”

An idea that Diergaardt regularly uses to describe the space is that of “a blank canvas”.

“It’s a blank canvas not only for those who create art in terms of visual arts but it’s for the performing arts as well,” Diergaardt says. “Et cetera is a platform for artists to express themselves and to showcase their work. Artists can hang their work up on the walls and we will try and sell it. There’s a stage for live performances, both musical performers and poets, as well as those into acting or who want to make and screen short films.”

While the space has recent history as a party zone, Diergaardt’s vision is more in line with the building’s former incarnation as the late Tony Figueira’s Studio 77.

“The space will be open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10h00 until 22h00. I want to emphasise the 22h00 because Et cetera is a safe space for creatives, women and children. This is not a nightclub,” Diergaardt says.

“The studio is open to people of all ages from as little as four years old to 65 and up. Anybody that’s able to pick up a pencil or a brush and create,” she says.

“The idea is that you can leave your house, have a coffee, pull up a canvas and you can paint without the expensive cost needed for you to create something.”

As the home of Something Artsy, Et cetera is also the site of the platform’s paint nights, cocktail immersions, R&B sing-along evenings and its incoming ‘Mommy & Me’ session for Mother’s Day. The malleable nature of the space, which is also available for hire, is intentional and is envisioned in the art café and studio’s name.

“The name Et cetera means that you’re not boxed in. It speaks of potential. It speaks of more. It’s not limited,” says Diergaardt. “The name is the literal presentation of this space and its possibilities.”

While the Old Breweries has hosted art studios and spaces such as Jojo’s Music and Arts Café before, the return of creatives is a welcome one. A palpable excitement is evidenced by fashion designer Melisa Poulton, dressed in the opening’s maximalist theme, who regards the spacious white studio and exclaims: “Fashion shows! I can see it already!”

Artists reaching out, taking initiative and imagining the space in the colours of their own visions is Diergaardt’s deepest wish.

“My hopes and dreams for this space are that it becomes the blank canvas for everybody’s ideas,” she says. “That this place helps everybody else see their dreams come alive.”

– martha@namibian.com.na;
Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter
and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com