Since it began in 2007, AfrikaBurn’s flagship event in the Tankwa Karoo has grown rapidly in population size, and in global visibility. Since the COVID years AfrikaBurn has recovered significantly, and over the previous three events (2022 – 2024) has regained it’s pre-COVID participation numbers. In 2024 it attained a participation of nearly 11 000, with 40% international participation and 60% South African attendace; it is a platform for innovative art and expression of all disciplines and genres.

Based for many years in Observatory and now in neighbouring Salt River, the organisation’s outward facing urban iteration of the desert experiment STREETOPIA, launched in 2015, is a one day free art festival that floods the street with creativity, and helps build a safer street culture. Since 2016, it has been recognised as a City of Cape Town “Special Event”. With funding from the Special Event Committee and the Arts and Culture Grant-In-Aid funding, Streetopia has continued to incubate multidisciplinary art and performance works of marginalized arts collectives (formal and informal) from communities including: Hanover Park, Langa, Masiphumelele, Khayelitsha and execute permanent and temporary public art by artists of Observatory and surrounding areas.