National Arts Festival Opens its 49th Edition

By CityLIfe Arts Writer

The 49th annual National Arts Festival is open! Artists and audiences greeted a chilly 22 June Makhanda morning with optimism – and a full programme of shows ahead for the next eleven days.

The Festival has weathered the Covid years and returned to double down on its role as a solid foundation for artists to launch new work and careers. It has also become a home to return to; a place where artists can come to safely revise work, close circles and celebrate milestones.

This year these include some firsts, such as the world premiere of Mamela Nyamza’s new work HATCHED ENSEMBLE, the first South African performance of Jazzart’s 50th Celebration show Requiem just back from the UK and the works of the six Standard Bank Young Artists who each bring a uniquely pioneering creativity to the Festival. This year it is also a place of completion; Vuyani Dance’s extraordinary founder, Gregory Maqoma, will dance on stage for the last time in Exit/Exist and Msaki will take a break after last performance at the Festival before a period of rest and reflection.

Eastern Cape Premier, Mr Oscar Mabuyane spoke at the opening of the Festival, “Today, culture is not a static concept bound by time and tradition. Instead, it is dynamic, transformative, expanding with the creative spirit of our youth and the wisdom of our elders. To our artists, we owe an immense debt of gratitude. There will never be a National Arts Festival without artists. This Festival has always been a platform for you to showcase your talent without intermediaries, without the shadows of commercial exploitation.”

Premier Mabuyane made mention of a number of development projects associated with the
Festival throughout the year that are made possible through the province’s investment in the National Arts Festival.

These include the Arts Encounters Programme that distributes tickets to shows at the National Arts Festival to local communities during the Festival as well as the enormously popular two day Masicule Choral Concert, which celebrates the rich choral traditions of Makhanda to sold out houses outside of Festival time. The Department of Correctional Services also has a stall at the Village Green which showcases works created by offenders. The Festival has a number of free events such as the Village Green, exhibitions and the SAfm Sundowner Concerts at the Monument at 5pm daily, which are open to all.

Eastern Cape MEC, Nonceba Kontiswe, noted the presence of work from the region. “Our province features prominently on the Festival programme this year. It warms my heart that it has become custom that the Eastern Cape Ensemble opens the Festival with a showcase of their talent, tradition and culture of our citizens, past and present. We are equally elated that the Eastern Cape showcase will once again feature visual artists, crafters, musicians, authors and writers on a platform designed to develop their unique skills and introduce audiences to their work.”

While too early to forecast attendance, the Festival CEO, Monica Newton, reports that ticket sales are buoyant. “We’re optimistic that visitors are starting to return but we’re also realistic about the realities of current economic pressures on disposable income. We’ve responded by creating a Festival to fit the times. The programme has been carefully planned to ensure our venues are backed up during loadshedding and so we have fewer venues with more shows in each and we’ve selected a diverse programme of works both in terms of origin, genre and subject matter for the multiple interests of our audiences.

Both the Festival CEO and the Makana Municipality Mayor, Yandiswa Vara, commended multiple stakeholders including the Makhanda Circle of Unity, local businesses, schools, residents and communities for helping ready Makhanda to host the NAF in 2023. Through the Social Employment Fund programme over 2,000 participants are working to keep the streets clean, fix potholes, clear waterways and storm water drains, remove illegal dump sites and recycle waste. This work will continue throughout the Festival and beyond.