Dr Jayne Crawshay-Hall Robertson
Academic Head
jayne@openwindow.co.za

Bio:

Dr Jayne Crawshay-Hall (b. 1987) is an academic, art historian, curator, and artist who is the Academic Head for The Open Window, a leader in the creative higher education sector of South Africa and internationally, currently with campuses in Stellenbosch and Centurion.

She completed her PhD at the University of Johannesburg under the SARCHI chair in 2019. Crawshay-Hall has extensive experience in academic strategic leadership, academic organisational management and systems establishment, curriculum design, quality assurance, and regulatory management–as well as how these portfolios influence business strategy and organisation economic health. A passion within this role is the mission to guide national knowledge on the potentials of creative career paths, and outline the economic need for creativity thinking across all sectors. She has particular interest in staff growth and development, team dynamic and health, teaching and learning innovation, research and development. She is committed to innovating and establishing strategic business partnerships and opportunities within the private education sector in South Africa.

Crawshay-Hall is currently the Presiding Chair of the Open Window Academic Board and Academic Committee and is a member of OW EXCO. She is also a member of the Open Window University’s (Zambia) research unit, and through this, helped to design and establish a Masters degree programme at OWU. Currently, she contributes as a member of the IMM Graduate School’s Academic Board (South Africa), is a member of the Belgium Campus Academic Board, and a member of the Commerce Edge Academic Advisory Board.

Crawshay-Hall also contributes through a number of external positions on various research and recognition bodies. Besides her work for Open Window, she is also a researcher with particular interests in contextualising and curating (South) African and African Diaspora arts, visual cultures and curatorial praxis. She retains ongoing interests as an artist and curator through NO END Contemporary Art Space, an artist-run contemporary platform in Johannesburg, South Africa which she now co-owns. Within her own curatorial practice, her focus is on reconceptualising the conventions of producing, installing, exhibiting, and viewing exhibitions. Crawshay-Hall has curated numerous exhibitions, authored scholarly articles, and undertaken artist residencies in Paris (2012) and Berlin (2015).

Robin Keet
Open Window Lecturer: Creative Business Studies | Postgraduate Diploma

Bio:
Robyn Keet is an experienced creative business strategist and lecturer who is committed to helping creators build financially sustainable careers while preserving their artistic integrity. She serves as the Creative Administration and Creative Business Practice lecturer at Open Window and is the founder of Inner Voice Creative, a consultancy that empowers creators to turn their passions into profits.
Since 2019, Robyn has taught business development for creatives, offering practical industry insights and a growth-oriented approach to her teaching. With over 20 years of experience in the creative economy, she specializes in developing impactful curricula that foster entrepreneurial mindsets among emerging creators. Her innovative teaching methods prioritize real-world applications, utilizing practical frameworks that connect creative expression with financial viability.

Morne Venter
Head of Department: Creative Technologies
morne@openwindow.co.za

Bio:
Morné Venter is a creative thinker, artist, and educator currently residing in Pretoria. He completed his Masters degree in Information Design at the University of Pretoria in 2017. Venter is currently the Head of Department for Creative Technologies at Open Window where he has specialised in facilitating learning in Interaction and User Experience Design since 2013. Venter has a deep interest in using workshop design as a learning tool in the classroom and has developed expertise in designing interactive environments that enable teams and students to collaborate effectively toward common goals.

Anneri Kapp
Maker Space Technician
anneri@openwindow.co.za

Bio:
With nearly a decade’s experience in the industry, Anni Kapp is well-versed in the ins-and-outs of printing and signage, including operating a wide variety of print and manufacturing machines and finding the right material for every odd job presented to her. In 2024, Anni joined the team at Open Window Centurion as a MakerSpace technician, where she discovered her love for teaching the magic of “Making” to others – not only the institute’s students, but any curious individual! If she’s not busy tinkering with a machine or pushing it to its limits, you can find her organising and optimising every corner of the MakerSpace, bringing systematic precision to the chaotic creativity of her position.

Dr Jennifer Sheokarah
Lecturer: North-West University

Bio:
Dr Jennifer Sheokarah is a lecturer in the School of Language Education at North-West University, Vanderbijlpark Campus. Her journey in education began at just six years old when she declared that she wanted to teach—and she has never wanted to do anything else since. She obtained her PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and transitioned from teaching Grade 12 English in both public and private sectors to academia.

Her research focuses on fostering second-language learners’ success in English through humanising teaching strategies, promoting well-being, and developing innovative, anxiety-reducing, and gamified learning experiences. She is also interested in how outdoor learning environments enhance engagement and participation. Passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences, she applies these strategies in higher education, equipping future educators with inclusive, student-centred approaches to teaching.

Beyond academia, Dr Sheokarah is also a children’s author and poet, using storytelling and creative expression to inspire young minds. She has contributed to action research, published on second-language acquisition (with 3 journal articles and 3 book chapters underway for publication throughout this year), and regularly shares her insights at academic conferences.

Allen Laing
Lecturer: Theory (OW)
allen@openwindow.co.za

Bio:
As a wood sculptor, Allen Laing employs play, fantasy, and performance in the creation of contraptions to solve the problems he encounters in his daily life. After receiving a BA in Fine Art from UP, Laing spent two months in residency at the CIte Internationale des Arts in Paris. Later, during an extended residency at the Nirox Sculpture Park, he began working with wood collected from the natural environment. He has an affinity for wood as a material for artmaking and allows the rich biological and ecological aspects of different tree species to inform his creative process. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from UJ, cum laude, for which he was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal, and has been working in his studio at Dionysus Sculpture Works (spearheaded by Rina Stutzer and Angus Taylor) since 2017. In 2019 he was made a fellow of the Ampersand Foundation in New York City. His sculptures are in the collections of the WITS Art Museum, the Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, the UFS Art Collection, the William Humphreys Art Gallery, and the Design Biologix Collection.