Our story
The Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees
Share and have a share
The Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees is a melting pot of expression and culture that annually brings together the diversity and impact of the arts in Stellenbosch. With this year’s theme, “share”, we celebrate 25 years of action adding to this word through stories, synergy and collaboration. And everyone can be part of the experience. Read more about how you can get your share of the 2025 Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees here . From 11 to 19 October 2025, we celebrate with a taste for every tongue and a story for everyone. With more than 400 productions, we find and celebrate each other in a whirlwind of energy, creativity, books, writers, theatre, music, art, dance, discourse, films, and so much more.
Stellenbosch Woordfees NPC
The Woordfees began in 2000 at Stellenbosch University (SU) as an all-night celebration of Afrikaans word art. Over the past 25 years, it has grown into one of the largest arts festivals in Africa, attracting around 50 000 festivalgoers annualy.
In 2024, the festival transitioned into a Non-profit Company (NPC) with its own operational structures outside of SU.
This structure enables the festival to streamline decision-making, improve cost-efficiency, and ensure long-term sustainability amid fluctuating arts funding.
While the administrative and jurisdictional framework evolved, the festival’s vision, team, and identity have remained unchanged. All sponsors and partners have also continued their support of the Woordfees in this new format.
Our impact
The Words Open Worlds (WOW) encourages learners a love for words through reading, spelling competitions, writers’ visits and creative writing projects. WOW reaches over 2 500 schools and 270 000 learners, across South Africa annually.
WOW also opens up the world of tertiary education to young people from backgrounds of severe disadvantage by providing bursaries, academic support and mentorship to help them access and complete their studies at university.
During the festival, WOW offers learners, teachers and principals from schools in the region the opportunity to attend discussions, academic debates and performances as part of the Woordfees commitment to supporting and stimulating interest in the written and spoken word.
SU Choir
The SU Woordfees manages and co-ordinates the celebrated Stellenbosch University Choir Stellenbosch University Choir which swept the boards at the 2018 Llangollen Eisteddfod in Wales winning the top awards for Youth Choirs, Mixed Choirs and Open Choirs. André van der Merwe won the Jayne Davies prize for Best Conductor at the Llangollen Eisteddfod. The SU Choir has been number one on the Interkultur ranking list of a 1 000 international choirs since 2012.
This remarkable choir is supported by the SU Woordfees and is comprised of 120 Stellenbosch University students from across all academic disciplines bonded together through their love of music and song.
