She was once a little girl who loved music and dreamed of a future in the arts. Now, approaching a new chapter in her own life, Ingrid Fortuin is determined to make sure talented young South Africans don’t have to abandon their dreams simply because they cannot see a way forward.
By Eleanor Douglas-Meyers | 041Online
What happens to the dreams we leave behind?
For some, they become fond childhood memories. For others, they remain quietly tucked away beneath careers, family responsibilities and the expectations of adulthood.
For Ingrid Fortuin, the little girl who once loved singing and creative expression never really disappeared. And decades later, that childhood passion has found an entirely new purpose.
Today, Fortuin is the founder of the Global Gateway Initiative, an initiative working to connect talented young South Africans with the expertise, opportunities and support they need to pursue careers in the creative arts.
But the story behind it is about much more than discovering talent. It’s about motherhood, second chances, the courage to start something new at almost 50 and the heartbreaking reality that, sometimes, talent simply isn’t enough.
Speaking to 041Online, Fortuin shared the deeply personal journey that inspired her work and why she believes South Africa needs to rethink the way it supports its young creatives.
The little girl who loved to sing
Growing up in the early 1990s, Fortuin loved music, singing and the creative arts. Like many young South Africans of her generation, however, she was encouraged to consider more traditional career paths.
While music and drama were welcomed as extracurricular activities, there was little conversation about turning those interests into sustainable careers.
It wasn’t necessarily that opportunities didn’t exist. It was that young people often didn’t know how to access them.
Looking back, Fortuin sometimes wonders how differently her life might have unfolded had she known what was possible.
She also acknowledges that uncertainty wasn’t only about the opportunities available. There were questions about her own confidence, whether she had the ability to succeed and whether she had pushed hard enough for what she wanted.
Rather than dwelling on regret, she has turned those reflections into motivation.
“I want young creatives in South Africa to have access to information, guidance, expertise and opportunities that allow them to make informed choices about their futures,” she told 041Online.
Her hope is that the next generation won’t have to set aside their ambitions simply because the route towards achieving them isn’t immediately obvious.
When motherhood became a mission
The Global Gateway Initiative began taking shape through Fortuin’s experiences supporting her own daughter’s artistic ambitions.
As her daughter’s abilities developed and her ambitions became clearer, Fortuin discovered that being a supportive parent required much more than encouragement.
There were training pathways to understand, industry experts to find, opportunities to identify and unfamiliar processes to navigate.
Sometimes it meant finding the right person to make an introduction. Other times, it involved understanding international requirements, coordinating travel and accommodation or simply figuring out what needed to happen next.
And not everyone necessarily understood the path her daughter wanted to pursue.
For Fortuin, that meant confronting some of the fears and expectations parents naturally have about their children’s futures.
As the family navigated the journey, she began thinking about other talented young people whose parents might be equally supportive but lacked the knowledge, resources or connections to help them move forward.
She had seen firsthand how much difference one opportunity could make.
Someone had opened a door for her daughter. She wanted to help open doors for others.
And so, at an age when many people might hesitate to embark on something entirely new, Fortuin decided to take a leap of faith.
“I felt a responsibility to pay it forward,” she explained.
The work nobody sees
We love celebrating stories of young South Africans making it onto international stages.
What we don’t always see are the countless emails, applications, funding requests, travel arrangements, visa requirements and difficult conversations that happen long before the applause.
Through the Global Gateway Initiative, Fortuin works to bridge the gap between talent and opportunity by building relationships, connecting families with relevant expertise and helping young creatives navigate the practical steps involved in pursuing their ambitions.
There is no single formula, because every young person’s circumstances and goals are different.
And while funding is one of the biggest challenges, Fortuin believes the value of human connections is often underestimated.
A mentor willing to share their knowledge, an industry professional prepared to make an introduction or someone simply willing to help a family understand an unfamiliar process can make an enormous difference.
But even with determination and a strong network, not every opportunity becomes possible.
When talent isn’t enough
One of the hardest parts of Fortuin’s work is knowing that some young people have the talent, commitment and potential to succeed, but cannot access opportunities because the necessary funding simply isn’t available.
She speaks openly about the emotional toll of having to tell families that, despite everyone’s best efforts, an opportunity cannot go ahead.
Those conversations are particularly difficult when she has witnessed what becomes possible when the right support is available.
One example is Hlumelo Ntshangana, whose journey has taken him from Gugulethu to Germany.
For Fortuin, his progress is a powerful reminder of what can happen when opportunity meets dedication and hard work.
But it also raises a difficult question: why should one talented young person be able to access an international opportunity while another cannot secure the support needed for something closer to home?
The importance of an opportunity, she believes, shouldn’t be measured by the distance someone travels to reach it.
“I cannot pretend that I have found an easy way to deal with that disappointment,” she admitted.
It is one of the reasons she continues working to build a sustainable network of individuals, businesses and organisations willing to invest in young creatives.
The moments that make it worthwhile
Among the experiences that have stayed with Fortuin is watching a young dancer, Mo’jiza, perform in a major production of Swan Lake.
Just three months earlier, his confidence had suffered after his potential and abilities as a dancer and student were questioned.
Seeing him take his place on stage, in the front row of the production, represented far more than a performance.
For Fortuin, it was about watching a young person begin to believe in himself again.
Stories like Hlumelo’s and Mo’jiza’s are different, but both reinforce her belief that meaningful support can change the direction of a young person’s life.
They also remind her why she continues, even when the obstacles seem overwhelming.
Why South Africa needs to think differently about creative careers
Ask Fortuin what she would change about the way South Africa supports young people pursuing careers in the arts, and her answer is immediate: the education system.
She believes children should be introduced to the possibilities within creative industries from an early age, rather than having their talents treated as interests to pursue only after academic responsibilities are complete.
For some children, she argues, the arts are where they discover their confidence, purpose and motivation.
And unless young people are shown that creative careers are possible, how can they be expected to pursue them?
Her philosophy extends to parenting, too.
Rather than deciding what a child should become, Fortuin believes adults should help children discover their strengths, understand what brings them joy and find opportunities suited to their individual abilities.
It is an approach she has tried to follow with her own two children and one she hopes the Global Gateway Initiative can extend to many more families.
Building something that lasts
Looking ahead, Fortuin hopes to grow the Global Gateway Initiative into a sustainable support network for young South African creatives.
To achieve that, she is seeking private sponsors, corporate sponsorships, industry expertise, mentorship and, importantly, long-term partnerships.
Her vision isn’t simply to fund one opportunity or help one young person at a time.
She wants to create lasting pathways that allow talented young people and their families to access guidance and opportunities over time.
And while financial contributions are essential, she believes businesses, professionals and individuals have other valuable resources to offer, including knowledge, connections and a willingness to give someone a chance.
For Fortuin, building the initiative is also a personal test of the very message she shares with young people: that believing in your potential sometimes means being brave enough to pursue something even when the outcome is uncertain.
A message to the little girl she once was
Perhaps the most moving part of Fortuin’s story is that, in helping young creatives pursue their dreams, she has found a way to reconnect with her own.
The girl who loved music and singing may not have followed the artistic career she once imagined, but that passion has become the foundation of something she hopes will make a difference to future generations.
And if she could sit down with her younger self today, her message would be simple.
“I would tell her that the dream is never over.”
It is a sentiment that reaches beyond the creative arts.
Because sometimes, the dream we thought we’d left behind doesn’t disappear at all.
Sometimes, it simply waits for us to find a different way to bring it to life.
To learn more about the Global Gateway Initiative and International Community Empowerment NPC, visit internationalcommunityempowerment.com.
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