The Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation (also known as the Africa Open Institute or AOI) is an independent and autonomous interdisciplinary institute in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. It has its offices at Pieter Okkers House, 7 Joubert Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

The institute

Founded in 2016 as an independent entity from the Music Department, the institute developed from the Documentation Centre for Music (DOMUS), to which it remains connected through its funding of the DOMUS archive, its intellectual and creative programmes, curating activities, archival collection initiatives and core vision of creating in DOMUS the largest open-access archive for music on the African continent. Professor Stephanus Muller is the founding director and Dr Hilde Roos the General Manager.

Besides innovative and experimental research activities in music and sound, the work of the Institute also encompasses research on and documentation of sound, music, musical theatre and opera and related fields.

PARC: A research collection of documents on the performing arts

In 2025 the institute became the new home for what in the past has usually been referred to as the ESAT archive (an informal collection of archival documents and other materials used in writing the entries, partly held at the drama department at Stellenbosch, as well as the homes of the two editors, Temple Hauptfleisch and Miriam Terblanche). In 2025, a project - headed by Stephanus Muller and Temple Hauptfleisch - was launched to have the informal collection relocated to more permanent and accessible premises at the AOI.

Dr Esther Marie Pauw was appointed as the first administrator of the collection of what is now known as the Performing Arts Research Collection (PARC)..

The contents

The donations are arranged according to names of the donors, listed in the catalogue as collections by the particular individual/institution.

Among them:

The Antoinette Kellerman Collection: Listed as the Antoinette Kellerman Collection (KC), this consists of 80 play texts that have been utilised by the actress over the years.