Cape Town, tell us your stories

We’re launching VoiceMap in Cape Town throughout the month of September, and we’re looking for stories that make our map of Cape Town more complete. We’ve lined up significant media coverage from some of the city’s biggest broadcasters and publications, and Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Partnership are lending a hand.

We’re always on the lookout for your stories, and anything is welcome, but we’re prioritising the following places and themes in particular:

  1. Literary walks, connected to Cape Town’s best known writers
  2. Queer Cape Town
  3. The Fanwalk
  4. Hout Bay
  5. Kalk Bay
  6. Muizenberg to St James
  7. Seapoint
  8. Greenpoint
  9. District Six
  10. Woodstock
  11. The Winelands
  12. Lion’s Head

To get involved, request an invitation by the 4th of August. You’ll find details about how routes are priced and royalties paid here. If enough people can make it, we’ll have a workshop the following weekend, to get everybody started, but we’re also happy to work with you individually. When you complete the form to request an invitation, please indicate when you’ll be able to complete the first draft of the script. Scripts are normally between two and three thousand words long, depending on how much distance they cover.

If you’d like to know more, could also watch a two minute-long video explaining VoiceMap, listen to some of our Cape Town walking tours, or browse through our storytelling tutorial. If you’d like to know more, please give our editor, Lauren Edwards, a call on 082 375 5570.

There are three steps to publishing a route: planning, writing, and recording.

Planning

Our tools make planning a route straightforward, and once you’ve decided on the locations that tell your story, drafting an outline only takes an hour or so. You’re welcome to come in to our office, to work with us on this part of the process, and talk through some of the logistics.

Writing

Routes need to be at least 15 minutes long, which equates to roughly 1,500 words. The majority are closer to 2,500 words, divided up into a series of tracks that play automatically at particular locations. We’ll edit the final script, to make sure that everything is perfect, and you only have to record it once.

Recording

Routes are recorded in your voice, but we’ll help you through the process. We can meet you at your home, or you can come to our offices in Woodstock. It only takes two to three hours.

2 thoughts on “Cape Town, tell us your stories”

  1. Hi Lauren

    glad to see this when I picked up mails on my son’s computer in Jhb. I think I said to you ages ago that I would love to do the Muizenberg to St James Route, but at that time you had someone who was doing it. I see now that it’s listed above, so if it’s free please would you consider it for me when I get back – it’s one of my favourite walks.

    Hope to receive an email from you, then I’ll have your address to reply to – I neglected to include several addresses on the list that I compiled when I last travelled.

    All the best
    Maureen (Miller)

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