The Lucas family, along with the Soweto Festival Expo is proud to announce the first annual Adele Lucas Bursary. The bursary will be awarded to a female honours student at the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. The bursary is initiated as a permanent legacy to Adele Lucas, who died unexpectedly in June 2010.

The late Adele Lucas

“Adele was passionate about the education and development of woman in SA,” says Toby Chance, Adele Lucas Promotions (ALP) managing director. “Her legacy will live on through this award.” The University of Johannesburg will recommend suitable candidates for the bursary and furnish them to the Adele Lucas Bursary Trustees, who will in turn select the successful candidate.

“Postgraduate studies are extremely important in the national interest and for career advance in the professional arena. Unfortunately many talented young students lack the means to continue their studies after they graduate with their first qualification. The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg is thus delighted and very grateful that the Adele Lucas Bursary has been established. This generous bursary, in memory of the late Adele Lucas, will contribute to helping a top student further her studies in a creative discipline,” says Prof. Marian Sauthoff, executive dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg.

Adele Lucas, founder of Adele Lucas Promotions, created and organised the Soweto Homemakers Festival in 1983, now known as the Soweto Festival Expo. She was known for her love and dedication to Soweto and SMMEs. Those who knew Adele Lucas say she was the doyenne of the industry, having started out as a sports promoter before joining Sol Kerzner on the Southern Sun management board. After opening and promoting 22 hotels worldwide, Adele founded Adele Lucas Promotions in 1979 and created many ground-breaking events, including the Get Ahead Shebeen in Rosebank, the Dockside Splash at the V&W Waterfront and what became known as the 94.7 Cycle Challenge.

In a statement from Robert Lucas, Adele’s surviving husband and her children Carolyn, Diana and Garth, the family added that “the Adele Lucas Bursary was founded because of Adele’s belief in educating our leaders of tomorrow. In future years, the trustees hope to add to the bursary to include a student from the Faculty of Management to reflect the fact that Adele was a successful businesswoman who broke through the glass ceiling and made a major contribution to the evolution of public relations and event management as management disciplines.”

The first recipient of the Adele Lucas Bursary will be announced in January 2011.