Celebrating 50 years of National Arts Festival in a different world
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
Those who attended the launch of the National Arts Festival, recently at Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank, were presented with an impressive programme that not only celebrates the country’s creative output over the past 50 years that the leading arts feat has been in existence, but to contemplate the current state of uncertainties in the world.
As much as the programme that was unveiled to mark this milestone, was quite impressive and offers a diversified arts offering, covering music, visual art, theatre and more, representing as wide an arts voice as they could for the 11 days that the festival will be running, we were reminded by speakers of the current challenges humanity is facing. These include political uncertainties as desperate politicians aiming at capturing especially the votes of the indifferent and desperate, will use any gimmick that will attract those votes, This for example includes narrow nationalistic rhetoric that in fact does not assist anyone in a complex and much globalised world where we all need each other to address common global issues that threaten to cause much damage to the world as we know it, such as the threat posed by climate change.
However to give credit to the National Arts festival, these challenges are imbedded in the thinking through of the curation of the shows that will grace Makhanda this year. The tone of the festival this year was in fact set at the unveiling of the programme as a guest speaker from Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Researcher (MISTRA) Dr Yacoob Abba Omar gave the guests gathered an insight into South Africa’s political scenario in 2034 in which the creative sector are projected to also play a role –at least they should if they wanted their sector to play a meaningful role in nation building and creating social instability.
“We foresee a scenario whereby in 2034, the future of this country will be determined by a coalition of civil society actors, such as labour organisations and other players, who will form the next government with one or two political parties. We cannot name those parties right now, as the situation can change among political parties before then,” said Dr Abba Omar. He is the director of operation at this highly respected research think tank. In one of the eir recent resreahc projects, the institute produced a paper that looks at the political scenario of South Africa in 2034.
He went further and advised the creative and cultural community to consider lobbying as a group to access assistance needed for their sector to develop. “You must start lobbying as agroup, and go beyond the usual places that the creative sector usually goes to. You need to lobby influential people, for example the President and so forth and so on. This is the time for the sector to work together,” he said in conversation with well known radio presenter and strategist Michelle Constant, who currently is the chairperson of the National Festival Board.
“The National Arts Festival has long been a highlight on South Africa’s cultural calendar. It’s a time for artists and visitors to gather, engage and celebrate. Showcasing work across a range of disciplines, this is a festival that encourages range, versatility and innovation.
We have our generous sponsors to thank for keeping the spirit of the National Arts Festival alive, affording us the privilege of creating extraordinary works that continue to reflect the shifts of the artistic landscape not only in South Africa but around the world. It is with great pleasure that we welcome our patrons back to celebrate the South African arts community<” a statement from NAF Reads.
The programme is quite extensive this year, but some of the highlights include the productions by this year’s Standard Bank Young Artists award winners in various categories that include MoMo Matsunyane for theatre, Darren English for Jazz and Zoe Modiga for Music.
You can get the full programme of the festival by visiting