Q: You are a man of many talents with great achievements and aspirations to match. If you were to give yourself a title, what would it be and why?
A: That is a tough one. But if I had to, I would say I am an Experience and Vide Designer.
Q: What inspired your journey into the creative industry?
A: I grew up fond of everything creative – music, arts, fashion, design, you name it. My late brother, Victor Letsebe, was a music collector and loved experimenting with clothes and colour and being around him a lot, meant that his interests and likes rubbed off on me. Little did I know then that it was the beginning of what would turn out to be a career for me.
Q: A significant part of what you do has heavy artistic undertones. What is your relationship with art?
A: My passion for drawing and the visual arts speaks to me and I apply it on everything that I put together. I love smooth and sincere artistry, and that often comes with a unique tone that makes sense to me. You are bound to experience art at our events or in our projects.
Q: Would you be interested in opening or owning an art gallery?
A: By all means. I have been trying to put together an arts and youth centre for as long as I have existed. A home for the creative to not only brainstorm, work and produce but a safe space for them to enjoy their time, unwind and learn and push collaborations. This is a project that will come to fruition one way or another. I still have hope that some organisation or individual out there with the means to assist will partner with me on this.
Q: As a creative you seem to wear a lot of hats, from radio and events to art, music, presenting and so on
A: Everything I do stems from music, it inspired events, my love for radio, developing talent, concept design and all that is compressed to events. I have always loved giving people a good time, but I prefer it be an experience.
Q: ChillStep Sundays is your flagship project in terms of sustainability and cultural influence on the youth. You have a ChillStep Tour coming up soon. How do you maintain that project and what are your influences?
A: I always finish what I start and am always determined to give a working product a new look and a sustainable life span. ChillStep Sundays is one of the most expensive and demanding projects that I have ever been a part of because we always strive to maintain the tone and standard of quality in terms of production that is synonymous with the event.
We are constantly pushing ourselves to top the last event, and that comes with a lot of challenges, a good part of them financial. But the show must go on. The mandate was to provide a safe space where young people and artists could express themselves proudly with no reservation in whichever art form they prefer. The idea was to cultivate, develop and nurture talent and their ideas while providing attendees with unorthodox entertainment.
Q: How did you settle on ChillStep as a name for the project?
A: ChillStep is a sub-genre under electro-dance music. It is in essence celebrating not just the talent but a music genre that is loved by many people the world over. It is at the same time kind of an enigma because it is very rare to come across, hence the feel-good music during the day market.
My team and I have aspirations of seeing ChillStep reach international levels, hosted in different countries, collaborating with various artists and providing entertainment that you cannot get anywhere else. We are very honest with ourselves and we do what we can. We don’t over-commit or force things. Planning is done meticulously and with caution. ChillStep Sundays stimulates a lot of communities economically and creates so much employment, which is something most people don’t get. Every place we have been to, we always ensure to leave developed just a little more than before our arrival.
Q: You seem to have found your niche when it comes to hosting market-esque events with the Munchies Market, which is also doing quite well and the most recent, #BBQandFAM, which launched on NYE. What are you currently working on for 2022?
A: Yes, I study markets a lot. I take time to see what people like, what they would like to see and use that to create events targeting a specific audience. ChillStep is created for artistic 18–21-year-olds whereas Munchies Market is for elite food lovers that love exclusivity and is strictly no Under 23s. #BBQandFAM, as the name suggests, is a family-friendly event with and after party for fun camp chair lovers.
So in essence we have something for everyone. Except on holidays, our events all end at 10pm. This leaves our patrons wanting more. We popularised Sunday events and most events use our blueprint and we love it. We want to see more of these events and people just having fun in general.
Q: You collaborate with quite a number of brands and organisations. Which would you say was your favourite collaboration and why?
A: We have had a lot of great collaborations but I would have to say my favourite was with Redds. They gave us our worth and were such great cheerleaders. They contributed a lot to ensure the events went well, which made our job much easier. Of course, we did our part to give them our best, especially mileage. If you remember, Redds was one of the leading and most consumed cider brands during our partnership. That’s because when we make noise, we become the loudest.
