Like almost everybody else in the South African arts and culture community, we at Classicfeel plan a considerable part of our year around the National Arts Festival, and it is this vital annual event that forms the centerpiece of this issue. To a certain extent the local arts world’s tone is set by who and what makes the biggest waves in Grahamstown in that icy fortnight in June and July. Over more than three decades, the event has established and built upon its reputation as the unquestionable barometer of the state of South African culture.

 

The inaugural festival took place in 1974, when the 1820 Settler’s Monument was officially opened, and it started primarily as a creative platform for English-speaking South Africans who felt frustrated by the cultural hegemony enforced by the National Party government. However, it did not take long for it to shake off its ‘minority cultural outlet’ beginnings. Before long, it became an all-inclusive celebration of South African artistic excellence, and also expanded far beyond its primarily theatrical foundations and came to include every major arts discipline from music to visual art and dance.

 

Over the years an interesting development has taken place in the Festival programming: as it has grown to embrace every conceivable field of the arts, it has constantly sought out ways to blur the lines between them. Although the Festival is divided into separate theatre, music, visual art, dance, performance art, public art and film programmes, each year, there seem to be more and more events that do not fit neatly into any one of these categories, and often straddle across two or more of them. This to us, is the ultimate aim of artistic endeavour: the breaking of barriers, the melding of ideas, the endless permutation and reconfiguration of creative possibilities. This year’s programme sees even more movements in that direction.

 

Beyond the creative side, one can only imagine what a mammoth undertaking an event like this must be from a financial, administrative and logistical point of view. Festival Director Ismail Mohamed, CEO Tony Lankester and all the members of the Festival Committee must be commended for their efforts in pulling it all together. And of course, one cannot forget the ever-important sponsors. Lankester recently said that without the support of the Festival’s sponsors, the tickets for the various events at the Festival would run to several thousand rands each, instead of just R40, R50 or R60. That is to say, without the sponsors, there would simply be no Festival.

 

The National Arts Festival stands as a shining example of what great artists, art administrators and corporate and government sponsors can achieve when they work together towards a common goal. We extend our congratulations to everyone involved and wish the Festival every success.

 

The Classicfeel team.