Busisiwe Empressjsa Nkabinde

Busisiwe EmpressJsa Nkabinde is a musician, creative, set and costume designer. She studied audio technology at the Academy of Sound Engineering in 2016 , through the years she has been doing different forms of art such as Music and she has been getting experience within the industry from the year 2017 midyear , doing voluntary work until 2018 ,she started getting paying jobs within different technical divisions which has given her more experience and understanding of the arts/entertainment industry.Her professional skills include entrepreneurial skills she learned from National Youth Development Agency and iCollege . She then studied live events technical and production skills at the South African Roadies Association which consists of sound + lighting engineering and stage design + setup in 2019. She started her journey in design on an incubation training programme as set designer at the Market Theatre 2019, on a production called Frontiers , 2019. She says she was humbled to be part of the incubation training with the market theatre. She loves the theatre space and designing then with her interest of growing and learning, she volunteered on a production called ‘The Fishermen’ right after Frontiers where she met Nadya Cohen who is now her set design mentor and Noluthando Lobese, her set and costume design. She then did a design for set under the guidance of her Mentor Noluthando Lobese for a production called Man Alone in 2019 and then she worked on various projects since. She recently got an amazing opportunity to design costume for the Black History Month Play for the Market Theatre “Passover” directed by James Ngcobo , she coordinated costume at the Market Theatre for opera show “Coloraturo” and “The Market Theatre 45th birthday celebration” directed by James Ngcobo. Early this year she designed set and costume / production for a short film titled Eruption that is out now online by the production company called slate2productions. She released her 3 track hip hop and afro pop ep titled in 2021 in her company called “African Imprint’s” YouTube channel.She is currently working on her first hip hop album entitled process.She is humbled, grateful and joyful to have designed costume for “Dusk” directed by Palesa Mzamisa which was showcasing at the market theatre. She is currently working on her first hip hop album and designing + building an installation for Plus94 in collaboration with the band and founder of Ndimhle for the African Genius Awards , where by she is creating the world’s of Steve Biko, Chinua Achebe and Aliko Dangote which will be exhibited online on the 22nd of November 2021 with a narration of music by Ndimhle Band and actor’s for the 3 Legends that are being awarded this year.She is so grateful and honored to have been given an amazing and very fruitful opportunity to mentor young costume designers from different schools and residing areas around Johannesburg on the Ditshomo Programme that was formed and created by the market theatre last year and she is hoping for a brighter and fruitful future for the market theatre Foundation,her learners and the programme. She She believes and lives by art everyday of which she thinks is making the world a beautiful place everyday with every piece of art created by every artist in the world,She is a hard worker, with the edge to learn more everyday and believes in the power of teaching, learning, creating and growing. She is humbled and honored to be costume designer for the Zkwakala Festival winners