The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts in Makhanda, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers.
The festival runs for 11 days, from the last week of June to the first week of July every year. It takes place in the small university city of Makhanda (previously known as Grahamstown), in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
The NAF comprises a Main programme and a Fringe festival, both administered by the National Arts Festival Office, a non-profit Section 21 Company. The Festival programme includes performing arts (theatre, dance, stand-up comedy and live music), visual art exhibitions, films, talks and workshops, a large food and craft fair and historical tours of the city. The NAF runs a children's arts festival over the same period and a number of other festivals take place in Makhanda over the period of the NAF, such as the National Youth Jazz Festival.
Performances take place across the city in approximately 60 venues (such as theatres, churches, schools) as well as in various outdoor locations for the street performances.
The Festival attracts significant numbers of local and international visitors and is one of the biggest contributors to the economy of the region.
The main programme
A committee of curators in the various disciplines selects the content of the main programme. The planning process takes into account what is available locally and from outside South Africa. Three considerations that influence decisions are the artistic merits of any submission, the creation of a varied and balanced programme, and the costs involved.
Subsidiary festivals
A number of subsidiary festivals take place as part of the National Arts Festival: Think Fest Spiritfest Wordfest National Youth Jazz Festival Fingo Festival Creativate Digital Arts Festival National Schools Festival
Young Artist Awards The Young Artist Awards, sponsored by Standard Bank, are presented by the National Arts Festival Artistic Committee to emerging, relatively young South African artists who have demonstrated exceptional ability in their chosen fields but who have not yet achieved national exposure and acclaim.
Festival Committee members, fellow artists and interested members of the public, nominate artists. The NAF Committee, a group of experts in the various arts disciplines, decides on the final recipients.
Designed to encourage the recipients in the pursuit of their careers, a key aspect of the awards is that they guarantee the artists a place on the main programme of the forthcoming National Arts Festival. Apart from a cash prize, each of the winners receive substantial financial backing for their Festival participation whether this involves the mounting of an exhibition or the staging of a production.
A maximum of five awards are made annually in any one of the disciplines of drama, music, jazz, visual art, dance and film. Since the inception of the awards in 1981 more than 150 awards have been presented plus five special awards to artists in recognition of their contribution to the National Arts Festival and the arts of South Africa. A complete list of previous winners is as follows:
Year Music Drama Dance Jazz Visual Art Other2023Zoë ModigaMomo MatsunyaneLorin SookoolDarren EnglishStephané ConradieAngel Ho (Performance Art)2022MsakiBilly Langa & Mahlatsi MokgonyanaSylvester Thamsanqa MajelaLinda SikhakaneLady SkollieKoleka Potuma (Poetry)2021Cara StaceyThando DoniKristi-Leigh GresseVuma LevinBuhlebezwe SiwaniGavin Krastin (Performance Art) 2020 Nthato Mokgata Jefferson Tshabalala Lulu Prudence Mlangeni Sisonke Xonti Blessing Ngobeni – 2019 Megan-Geoffrey Prins Amy Jephta Kitty Phetla Mandla Mlangeni Gabrielle Goliath – 2018 Guy Buttery Jemma Kahn Musa Hlatshwayo Thandi Ntuli Igshaan Adams Chuma Sopotela (Performance Art) 2017 Abel Selaocoe Monageng 'Vice' Motshabi Thandazile Radebe Benjamin Jephta Beth Armstrong Dineo Bopape (Performance Art) 2016 Avigail Bushakevitz Jade Bowers Themba Mbuli Siya Makuzeni Mohau Modisakeng – 2015 Musa Ngqunqwana Christiaan Olwagen Luyanda Sibiya Nduduzo Makhathini Kemang Wa Lehurele Athi Patra Ruga (Performance Art) 2014 Njabulo Madlala Greg Homann Nicola Elliott Kyle Shepherd Hasan & Husain Essop Jahmil XT Qubeka (Film) Donna Kukama (Performance Art) 2013 Runette Botha Prince Lamla Fana Tshabalala Shane Cooper Mary Sibande Anthea Moys (Performance Art) 2012 Kelebogile Boikanyo Princess Mhlongo Bailey Snyman Afrika Mkhize Mikhael Subotzky – 2011 Ben Schoeman Neil Coppen Mamela Nyamza Bokani Dyer Nandipha Mntambo – 2010 Samson Diamond Janni Younge Mlu Zondi Melanie Scholtz Michael MacGarry Claire Angelique (Film) 2009 Jacques Imbrailo Ntshieng Mokgoro Thabo Rapoo Kesivan Naidoo Nicholas Hlobo – 2008 Zanne Stapelberg Jaco Bouwer Dada Masilo Mark Fransman Nontsikelelo Veleko – 2007 Bronwen Forbay – Acty Tang Shannon Mowday Pieter Hugo Akin Omotoso (Film) 2006 – Sylvaine Strike Hlengiwe Lushaba Concord Nkabinde Churchill Madikida – 2005 Andile Yenana Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom Peter John Sabbagha – Wim Botha Ramolao Makhene (Standard Bank Special Award for the invaluable contribution to and significant achievement in Theatre – posthumous award) 2004 Tutu Puoane Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu Portia Lebogang Mashigo – Kathryn Smith Moses Taiwa Molelekwa (Standard Bank Special Award for the invaluable contribution to and significant achievement in Music – posthumous award) 2003 Angela Gilbert Yael Farber Moya Michael – Berni Searle Dumisani Phakhati (Film) 2002 Prince Kupi Sello Maake Ka-Ncube Gregory Vuyani Maqoma – Brett Murray – 2001 Fikile Mvinjelwa Brett Bailey Tracey Human – Walter Oltmann – 2000 Gloria Bosman Zenzi Mbuli – – Alan Alborough – 1999 – – – – – – 1998 Bongani Ndodana-Breen Aubrey Sekhabi David Mudanalo Matamela and Debbie Rakusin – Nhlanhla Xaba – 1997 Sibongile Mngoma (Opera) Geoffrey Hyland – – Lien Botha Alfred Hinkel (Standard Bank Special Award for invaluable contribution to and significant achievement in Dance) 1996 Victor Masondo Lara Foot Newton Vincent Mantsoe – Trevor Makhoba – 1995 Abel Motsoadi John Ledwaba Boyzie Cekwana – Jane Alexander – 1994 Michael Williams (Opera) Jerry Mofokeng – – Sam Nhlengethwa – 1993 Sibongile Khumalo – Christopher Kindo – Pippa Skotnes – 1992 Raphael Vilakazi Deon Opperman – – Tommy Motswai Kevin Harris (Film) 1991 – Peter Ngwenya – – Andries Botha Darrell Roodt (Film) 1990 – – Robyn Orlin – Fée Halsted-Berning and Bonnie Ntshalintshali – 1989 Johnny Clegg Marthinus Basson Gary Gordon – Helen Sebidi Pieter-Dirk Uys (Drama) (1820 Foundation Special Award) 1988 – Mbongeni Ngema – – Margaret Vorster – 1987 Hans Roosenschoon – – – William Kentridge – 1986 – Andrew Buckland – – Gavin Younge – 1985 Sidwill Hartman Maishe Maponya – – Marion Arnold – 1984 – Ken Leach – – Peter Schütz Lamar Crowson (Music) (Standard Bank / 1820 Foundation 10th Anniversary Special Award) 1983 David Kosviner Paul Slabolepszy – – Malcolm Payne – 1982 – Janice Honeyman Lindy Raizenberg (Ballet) – Neil Rodger – 1981 John Theodore Richard E Grant – – Jules van de Vijver –
Fringe awards
In 2010, the National Arts Festival launched a new set of awards for Fringe productions – the Standard Bank Ovation Awards. These awards recognise excellence on the Fringe, and aim to seek out those productions that are innovative, original and creatively outstanding. At the end of the Festival, Gold and Silver awards are selected from the list of winners, rewarding the best productions in the categories theatre, dance, comedy, music.
Recipients of the Standard Bank Ovation Awards benefit from the recognition provided by the acknowledgement, with companies or artists often being offered extended tours, international opportunities to perform, increased opportunities for funding, and an invitation to submit a proposal for the following year's Arena programme. Artists who win Gold and Silver awards receive modest monetary incentives.
In 2014, the Festival launched the Adelaide Tambo Award for Human Rights in the Arts to "honour an artist or company whose work on the Fringe programme embodies Adelaide Tambo's passion for the arts and her deep commitment for human rights."
Featured artists
Since the Featured Artist Programme was launched in 2012, the National Arts Festival has celebrated and showcased established artists who have built up a substantial body of work that has contributed to South Africa's national discourse on race, class or gender in a significant way.
Recipients of this award are: 2020: Madosini, traditional musician 2019: Bernie Searle, visual artist 2018: Mamela Nyamza, dancer and choreographer 2017: Neo Muyanga, musician and composer 2016: Lara Foot Newton, playwright and director 2015: Satire (The genre was chosen as the programme centrepiece) 2014: Sylvaine Strike, actor and director 2013: Mike van Graan, playwright and director
Growth and development
The NAF has grown since its inception. In 1974 there were 64 events on the main programme. (Events refer to productions, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, tours and so forth. A drama or dance production is counted as a single event irrespective of how many times it may be performed.) The Fringe started in 1979 with 10 events. As of 2010 the National Arts Festival comprises more than 350 events with over 1,200 performances.
Social responsibility
The National Arts Festival claims to be a socially responsible festival, this however, has been contested.
The Hands On! Masks Off! programme focuses on strengthening the entrepreneurial skills of the arts community by bringing together arts entrepreneurs to share skills and knowledge with a new generation of arts managers.
In 2010 the Remix Laboratory saw a 120 community-based artists from around the country participate in a residency programme during the NAF. The scholars attended workshops, seminars, performances and visits to galleries while being mentored in arts practice and arts appreciation.
The Art Factory teaches local marginalised and vulnerable youth performance skills such as juggling and acrobatics and combines this with a strategic focus on building the life skills and confidence of the youth. The Art Factory functions as a year-round project in Makhanda.
As part of the ArtsReach Programme the National Arts Festival takes the arts to hospitals, clinics, old age homes and rural areas. A number of artists on the Fringe volunteer their performances for the ArtsReach programme during the NAF.
The Arts Encounter Project distributes a number of tickets to indigent individuals to enable them to enjoy productions from the NAF's main and fringe programmes.
Staff
The National Arts Festival has a small permanent staff comprising around 10 full-time staff members. Nobesuthu Rayi is the Executive Producer and Rucera Seethal the artistic director.
Former radio presenter and sponsorship manager Tony Lankester served as CEO for over a decade, stepping down in 2019 to take up a position in the UK. During Lankester's tenure, respected arts administrator Ismail Mahomed served as artistic director until 2016. Mahomed was responsible for overseeing the curation of the NAF's artistic content. He was replaced by playwright and arts administrator Ashraf Johaardien, who left at the end of 2018.
During the Festival, the staff complement grows to around 400, including technical staff, largely drawn from the local community of Makhanda.
International partnerships