Celebrity Services Africa Events (CSAE) has won the tender for the Festive Lights Switch-On event, to take place on the Grand Parade, Cape Town, on December 4. Along with previous credits including the FIFA World Cup Fan Walk, Mandela Legacy Event and World Design Capital New Year’s Eve event, this will be the eighth time CSAE has managed the Festive Lights Switch-On Event for the City of Cape Town.
CSAE is the events division of Celebrity Services Africa, a 360 communications, talent and events agency with offices in Cape Town, Lagos, Nigeria and Beverly Hills, California.
The biggest public event and traditional festive season opener for the City of Cape Town, the Festive Lights Switch-On attracts up to 100,000 people and this year includes a major stage in front of the City Hall, a spectacular video mapping sequence, a big screen on the Parade and two smaller screens on Adderley Street amongst other, substantial logistics elements.
As for production values, this year CSA has secured hip hop star AKA internationally recognized DJ Black Coffee, Afrikaans star Kurt Darren, celebrated Cape Town DJ Ready D, and other top local artists including Matthew Gold, Karin Kortje, DJ Lance Theron, Candice Thornton and the Cape Town Jazz Stars.
A feature of this year’s event is the ‘’Festive Lights Challenge’’ held on indi.com, South Africa’s new talent discovery and brand channel platform, in which aspiring artists from around Cape Town have been encouraged to take part and upload their talent in a chance of winning a cash prize and performing on the Festive Lights stage.
The event starts at 4pm the Grand Parade with Executive Mayor Patricia De Lille leading the festive lights countdown at 8.30pm amid a flurry of music, dance, lasers and staging effects, culminating in the video mapping of the City Hall facade just before 10pm.