BAZ-ART CREATES PUBLIC INTERACTION THROUGH URBAN ART
Co-founders Alexandre Tilmans (Sales, Marketing, and Financial Director) and Melissa Cucci (Operations and Art Director) started the company in 2016 with the vision to make South Africa a flagship and main actor in the public art and marketing sector. Over the years, Alexandre and Melissa have built a management team that brings over 80 years of experience in entrepreneurship, financial management, project management, and artistic abilities, which is why our team believes no art project is impossible.
Our vision is to showcase the power of street art across the African continent and its ability to generate conversations among individuals and communities. All our actions are based on the respect of three pillars:
Urban Art
Baz-Art creates engagement and marketing content through urban art. The co-founders noticed a need for organisations to tell truthful and impactful stories. Due to the amount of online content that seemingly could become repetitive, there was a need to be bold and stand out. Because of this, we serve the marketing needs of institutions, corporates, and organisations by facilitating the work of artists and converting it to digital content.
Community
The remarkable aspect of public art is that it is open to the public and can be enjoyed by or ignite a feeling in any passer-by. This is why we work as a non-profit in communities and schools to promote public dialogue and engagement and positively impact people’s physical, emotional, and social environments.
Education
At Baz-Art, we fervently promote dialogue. By speaking to one another, we educate one another, learning about each other’s worldviews, values, and cultural backgrounds. Producing a public artwork is an incredible form of education, with a myriad of learning opportunities – technical skills transfer, interpersonal development, artist development and exposure to conceptual artistic thinking, amongst many other forms of learning.
Since 2017, Baz-Art has held the International Public Art Festival (IPAF) in Cape Town. This annual festival is the largest street art festival in Africa and has included 180 artists worldwide.
IPAF 2022 had a national reach of 12 million people, and added to these numbers was our international press coverage. Baz-Art will continue to grow as a company and organisation by establishing flagship offices across Europe and the USA. Our in-house team will grow with the demands of our clients to ensure we continually offer a wide range of services in both project management and marketing. There are many talented street artists who we would still like to work with and many street artists we want to guide to a place of global recognition. We will raise standards without the fear of experimenting. We will keep educating along the way by expanding our art workshops into more areas. We will continually push boundaries with our projects and generate memorable street art pieces to add to cityscapes across the continent and globe. Because we believe art speaks louder than words, we know our murals will last for years to come. We are still at the beginning of our journey.
After five years in business, here is what our clients have to say:
Swiss Embassy:
“The Baz Art Team has shown exemplary leadership from budgeting, over planning to implementation and they were highly respected by all stakeholders.”
Business and Arts South Africa:
“There is no doubt in my mind that the success of these projects added value to society and communities where these projects were carried out. It is for these reasons that BASA wholeheartedly supports Baz-Art and highly recommends for any support and funding.”
UNICEF:
“UNICEF will continue to partner and support BAZ-ART and its progress, as their work is an important contribution to humanitarian aid and development to build sustainable communities.”
