Following the tragic passing of founder and CEO of the Naledi Theatre Awards, Dawn Lindberg, due to coronavirus complications in December, a new Chief Executive Officer has been appointed by the board.
Taking to Facebook the board issued a statement to announce the news saying: “The passing of The Naledi Theatre Awards’ visionary Dawn Lindberg has left a huge gap in the South African Theatre arena. Not only was Dawn a consummate performer, director and producer in her own right, but also the founder and CEO of the prestigious Naledi Theatre Awards."
"Dawn, on many occasions, expressed her fervent wish that the Naledis would continue once she was gone. Nobody, let alone Dawn, expected it to be so sudden and so soon. In typical Dawn fashion, she had a very strong and defined succession plan in place - a plan that had already started to be implemented when she semi-retired to her dream home in Plett at the end of 2019. Her plan was simple: she had in recent years strengthened the capacity of the Naledi Board, identified her successor and had created a Management Committee, to work alongside her and to gradually take over the onerous administrative functions of the Awards”.
Thus it was that at a board meeting, the new CEO Lihan Pretorius, the current Executive Director and Legal Board member of the Naledis, was elected to the position of CEO.
A lawyer by profession, Pretorious is also a performer, director and producer. He also worked closely with Dawn on all matters pertaining to the awards, both administrative and creative.
The board went on to acknowledge in their post that Covid-19 had “decimated our industry and has proven to be incredibly challenging for so many of us, which has made so many people in the Arts re-invent themselves and their craft”.
One such way in which the Naeldis have reinvented themselves is through the introduction of a new category VOLT (Video Online Theatre). This will run for the duration of lockdown and only filmed productions that were conceived specifically for online audiences, produced during lockdown and not performed before a live audience are eligible for this category.
It is indeed good to see that the Naledis will continue in honour of the inimitable Dawn Lindberg.
Pictured below, Dawn Lindberg with husband Des on the left and Lihan on the right
