The National Arts Festival opened its second fully online Festival with a programme of works that spans a broad range of genres, places of origin, content, and stories. The Festival had planned to return to some live and in-person elements in 2021 but was forced at a late stage to go fully online by the announcement of Level Four Lockdown. An element of the live experience will however be experienced by audiences who can buy tickets to see the live streamed shows which are broadcast online on fixed days throughout the Festival. The Festival will run from 8-31 July 2021. The programme, booking portal and viewing portal is all in one place https://nationalartsfestival.co.za
Speaking at a press conference on the morning of the Festival’s opening, the National Arts Festival’s board chairman, Ayanda Mjekula thanked the sponsors of the Festival* for standing by South African artists. Mr. Mjekula said that the Festival’s plans for the medium term see a National Arts Festival that goes beyond the Festival’s annual showcase and into a year-long platform that will benefit artists in a more sustainable way.
The Eastern Cape MEC for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Fezeka Nkomonye, said “We remain committed as the province to supporting our artists during this difficult time and have activated our theatres to be at the centre of making sure that their work is recorded and packaged for the online platform. Let’s work together in moving from relief to recovery.”
CEO, Monica Newton, remarked that it takes a nation to raise the National Arts Festival. Newton said that the online space had many advantages because it meant that the Festival could sustain income opportunities for the artists in this challenging time and confirmed that the Festival would remain a blend of digital and live into the future.
Commenting on the rapid pivot to a fully online experience, Newton acknowledged that the professionalism and dedication of the National Arts Festival team, artists and technical crews have been key under the time constraints and said that the adversity of the past two years has really strengthened and reinforced the Festival’s relationship with artists. Newton assured everyone that there would be quality and diversity on the programme and pointed out that it was fortunate that the Standard Bank Presents programme - that had intended to bring live shows to cities - had already been filmed so there was a good head start in creating the materials for the online space, particularly for the Standard Bank Jazz Festival which boasts a stellar line-up yet again.
With 239 shows, exhibitions, webinars and workshops on the programme, the Festival will add warmth to winter, and the lockdown, till its closing day on 31 July. It’s all on https://nationalartsfestival.co.za
