GEORGINA THOMSON WINS TUNKIE AWARD

Arts administrator and artistic director of FNB Dance Umbrella wins prestigious award.

Georgina Thomson was recently presented with the annual Tunkie Award at the grand opening of the FNB Dance Umbrella 2010. An arts administrator extraordinaire and long-time Artistic Director of the FNB Dance Umbrella, Durban audiences will remember her for her association with NAPAC/The Playhouse Company many years back.

A dynamic arts practitioner for over 25 years, she has played and continues to play a significant role in the development of contemporary dance in South Africa. In this time she has worn many different hats and filled many roles: fundraiser, producer, project manager, trainer and mentor to name a few. A woman of many achievements, this two-time Arts & Culture Trust winner (Arts Administration 2001 and Arts Management 2007) has served on the National Arts Council’s Dance Committee and, as FNB Dance Umbrella Artistic Director, has received many invitations to numerous festivals and conferences.

She took over the management and administration of the FNB Dance Umbrella Festival in 1997 and successfully developed it from a local Gauteng-based festival to one that is now nationally and internationally known. She built up a strong audience-base with support and interest in South African and international contemporary dance. She instituted the Young Choreographers’ Residency programme and has developed an aesthetic, an ethos and a platform for young artists.

The Tunkie Award was launched in 2003, in remembrance of Xolani Nettleton Dyusha (1961-1999), nicknamed Tunkie. He came from a disadvantaged background in the Eastern Cape. Despite enormous obstacles, he was able to further his education at a tertiary level, completing qualifications in business, marketing and sales. He worked with the team that conceptualised and subsequently launched the Nedbank Arts and Culture affinity programme, culminating in the establishment of the Arts and Culture Trust of the President, with former President Nelson Mandela as its Patron. He was involved in many important groundbreaking initiatives and arts sponsorships: the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the first post-sanctions cultural tour and thereafter many other more local and very significant arts sponsorships.

Dr Ivan May presented the Tunkie Award for Leadership in Dance, curated by the UJ Arts Centre, to a visibly overwhelmed Thomson, “I am completely speechless,” she said. The award was presented to her in acknowledgement of her unwavering contribution and dedication to the development of contemporary dance in South Africa.