A day in the life at the University of Pretoria. 26 February 1958.

On this "Day in the life of the University of Pretoria" the student society for performing arts, Pro Arte held their first meeting for 1958 in the Rautenbach hall.

Perdeby, 26 February 1958 © UP Archives

This society was founded in 1949 in a period when the arts and music flourished at the institution.  While each performing arts society, including the choir, theatre group, orchestra and Castalia ( a society for visual arts) had its own identity, Pro Arte was founded to assist with performance, tours and collaboration between the various societies.  At their annual meeting of 1958, the members of Pro Arte discussed the performances set for the year (see article featured above). This included Sigmund Romberg’s “Desert Song” directed by Jack Kennedy and Shakespeare’s “A midsummer night’s dream” directed by Joan Brink. Both performances had speech, choir, dancing, music and singing parts. Students were encouraged to attend auditions on this day.

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