Imagine, Create, Lead!
A two-day festival experience for teenagers who want to try new things, meet incredible people, build confidence, get creative, and explore what they’re capable of.
This is not school.
It’s hands-on, interactive, creative, collaborative, and designed to help you step into the unknown with courage and curiosity.
Wednesday 30th September to Thursday 1st October 2026
Riverside Studios in Hout Bay
For 11-16-year-old’s.
The world you’re growing up in is changing all the time.
New technology. New jobs. New ways of living, learning, creating, and connecting.
The people who thrive won’t just be the ones with the best marks.
They’ll be the people who can think creatively, communicate clearly, solve problems, work with others, adapt, lead themselves, and keep going when things get uncertain.
That is the heart of Lead & Create.
What happens at Lead & Create?
Every day, you’ll move through five different interactive workshops designed to help you build creativity, confidence, communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.
You’ll explore new ideas, try new experiences, solve creative challenges, work with other teenagers, and discover strengths you didn’t even know you had.
This is a space to experiment, explore, make mistakes, laugh, create, move, connect, and grow.
Creative Workshops
Use movement, sound, imagination, storytelling, observation, the senses, and hands-on creative experiences to unlock new ways of thinking and seeing the world.
Communication & Leadership
Build real-world confidence through presentations, collaboration, creative problem-solving, teamwork, leadership challenges, and learning how to communicate with clarity and courage.
Collective Experience
Shared meals, group gatherings, collaborative projects, meaningful conversations, music, laughter, connection, and discovering what becomes possible when people create together.
A space to explore, connect, create, and grow.
Lead & Create is a future-focused festival experience where teenagers build confidence, creativity, communication skills, leadership, and real connection through hands-on experiences and unforgettable moments together.
For teenagers who know there’s more inside them.
For teenagers who are curious about the future.
For teenagers who want to try new things, build confidence, express themselves creatively, meet like-minded people, and explore new possibilities for themselves.
Whether you already feel confident and creative, or you’re still figuring that out, Lead & Create is designed to help you grow, connect, explore, and discover new possibilities for yourself and your future.
Practical Details
9am – 3pm each day
Wednesday 30th Sept – Thursday 1st Oct 2026
Riverside Studios, Hout Bay, Cape Town
For 11–16-year-olds
R3125 per child for 2 days
Includes all materials, snacks, and lunch together each day
Maximum of 50 tickets
Workshops & Experiences
You might find yourself:
Building giant sculptures with a team
Trying welding, electronics, or hands-on making
Playing improv games and role-playing challenges
Learning public speaking and presentation skills
Exploring leadership, teamwork, and communication
Learning how to navigate conflict and difficult conversations
Dancing, moving, laughing, and getting out of your comfort zone
Trying breathwork, martial arts, or nervous system practices
Working with clay, sculpture, weaving, and tactile creativity
Cooking and hosting a meal for 50 people together
Exploring money, entrepreneurship, and real-world life skills
Creating nature-inspired artworks and collaborative installations
Solving creative challenges with other teenagers
Making things you never imagined you could make
Some workshops will be playful.
Some will challenge you.
Some will surprise you.
The goal isn’t to be perfect or “good” at everything.
It’s to explore, experiment, collaborate, discover new parts of yourself, and experience what becomes possible when you step into something new with curiosity and courage.
Our Approach
Lead & Create is designed as a full two-day journey — not just a bunch of separate workshops.
From the moment you arrive to the final closing experience, the festival is designed to take you through creativity, challenge, connection, confidence-building, laughter, collaboration, self-discovery, and real-world experiences that help you grow.
One of the main things you’ll explore is the creative process itself — and how leadership naturally develops through the act of creating.
Because creativity is not just about art.
It’s how humans solve problems, build friendships, create opportunities, adapt to change, start things, finish things, and shape their lives.
Real leadership grows through these experiences too:
learning to trust yourself,
working with others,
navigating challenges,
communicating clearly,
taking initiative,
staying committed,
and bringing ideas into reality.
Throughout the week, you’ll experience a simple creative cycle again and again through workshops, group experiences, challenges, conversations, movement, collaboration, and hands-on activities:
Start → Explore → Follow Your Intrigue → Discover → Commit → Create → Share → Start Again
Over time, you begin to recognise the process in yourself — not just in your mind, but in your body, confidence, emotions, relationships, and everyday life.
The goal isn’t to “perform” or be perfect.
The goal is to help you become more curious, courageous, creative, connected, and confident in who you are becoming.
Meet your facilitators
Dani Boden
FounderDani has spent years working with young people through film, festivals, workshops, education, coaching, and mentorship.
She is passionate about helping teenagers reconnect with confidence, creativity, self-expression, and a sense of possibility.
Lead & Create was designed as a space where young people can step away from pressure and expectation, discover who they are, and build the courage to explore new ways of leading, creating, and connecting.
Nix Davies
Nix is an artist, educator, creative process coach, and project manager who is passionate about helping people navigate creativity, uncertainty, and change.
Through art, workshops, education, and collaborative projects, she creates spaces where people can explore new ideas, build resilience, develop confidence, and step more fully into themselves.
Lead & Create is about helping teenagers discover that creativity is not just about art - it’s a way of thinking, problem-solving, collaborating, adapting, and designing your life.
FounderThe full team will be announced closer to the event
Your Questions, Answered
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Lead & Create is a five-day festival experience for teenagers who want to explore creativity, confidence, leadership, communication, collaboration, and new ways of thinking through hands-on workshops, challenges, movement, shared experiences, and real human connection.
It’s not school.
It’s a space to try new things, meet incredible people, build courage, and discover more of who you are becoming. -
Lead & Create is for teenagers who are curious about themselves, the future, creativity, leadership, connection, and possibility.
You don’t need to arrive “good” at anything.
You just need curiosity and a willingness to try something new. -
The festival is designed for teenagers aged 11–16-years-old.
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Every day includes a mix of workshops, creative challenges, leadership activities, movement experiences, collaborative projects, conversations, shared meals, and hands-on learning.
You’ll move through different experiences designed to help you build confidence, creativity, communication skills, teamwork, resilience, self-expression, and leadership.
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The full workshop lineup and daily festival flow will begin to be released in September 2026.
There will still be surprises along the way too.
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Not at all.
Lead & Create is not only for “artistic” people.
Creativity is about problem-solving, adapting, imagining, building, communicating, experimenting, and discovering new possibilities.
Whether you already feel creative and confident, or you’re still figuring that out, the festival is designed to help you grow.
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Comfortable clothes, curiosity, openness, a water bottle, and a willingness to explore new things.
Some workshops may involve movement, making, building, or being outdoors, so clothes that can move and get a little messy are encouraged.
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Yes.
Morning snacks, afternoon snacks, and lunch are included each day.
Shared meals are an important part of the festival experience, and there will also be opportunities for participants to collaborate in preparing meals together.
Dietary requirements will be catered for where possible.
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Yes.
Lead & Create is a fully facilitated and supervised experience led by experienced facilitators, educators, mentors, artists, coaches, and workshop leaders.
Creating a safe, welcoming, supportive, and inspiring environment is an important part of the festival.
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There are a maximum of 50 tickets available to help keep the experience connected, interactive, and personal.
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Tickets can be purchased through the website using the booking link provided.
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Lead & Create is designed as an independent teenage experience, so the festival itself is for participants only.
There may, however, be opening or closing moments where parents are invited into parts of the experience.
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A full 5 day Lead & Create Festival will be held from Monday 7th- 11th December 2026