All roads lead to Grahamstown in June / July, 2010.As FIFA World Cup hype occupies South Africa’s attention, the city of Grahamstown is quietly preparing for its annual National Arts Festival, hoping to welcome tens of thousands of visitors – arts lovers and soccer fans alike - for the event dubbed “15 Days of Amazing”. With less than a week to go before “kick off”, organisers are quick to stress that there are plenty of affordable travel and accommodation options open to Festival-goers.
“A quick browse through airline websites shows that the much-hyped overinflated prices aren’t coming to fruition,” Festival CEO Tony Lankester said. “A return flight to Port Elizabeth from both Johannesburg and Cape Town during the Festival period can still be found for under R1,500 if you choose your airline, dates and times carefully,” he said.
Once visitors arrive in Port Elizabeth, there are regular shuttles to Grahamstown. This year the festival will boast a re-vamped “Hopper” transport system, so visitors can get around to all Festival venues without having to worry about renting a car.
“There will be some visitors who decide to make a family holiday of it and drive down to stay either in Grahamstown or in nearby Kenton or Port Alfred, or one of the nearby 5-star game farms,” Lankester said. “Since the Festival falls in the middle of a long school holiday, we’re expecting plenty of families to join us this year – which is why we’re putting a big emphasis on family entertainment.”
Those wishing to stay in Grahamstown have the choice of a number of B&Bs and Guesthouses, private home rentals, or the newly launched Rhodes Festival Hotel – a modified residence, with shared bathrooms, offering comfortable bed and breakfast accommodation for under R400 a night.
The Festival is carefully programmed so, whatever dates visitors choose to attend, they will be guaranteed plenty to see.
“If you sat down and watched all the performances we are staging at this year’s Festival back-to-back, it would take you about 126 days of continuous watching to get through it all. We’ve crammed it into 15 days. With that kind of line up, the biggest challenge a visitor will face is what to leave off their schedule,” Lankester said.
However, Grahamstown – and the Festival – aren’t oblivious to the fact that the world’s biggest sporting event is taking place on its doorstep. There will be a fully-fledged public viewing area in the city and plenty of screens around town so Festivalgoers can have the “best of both worlds”.
“Hosting the FIFA World Cup is a big deal for South Africa and we’re confident that the country will deliver an awesome event,” Lankester said. “What we’ve tried to do with the Festival is create something that complements the soccer – that gives the world a taste of what South African arts and culture is all about, and provides South Africans the opportunity to step into a bubble of creativity and celebrate with us.”
The Festival has partnered with travel specialists Travel247 to put together simple, one call travel packages to the Festival. All packages include flights, car rental and accommodation at the "Festival Hotel”. Enquiries can be made by contacting Travel247 on 011 502 3511.
The National Arts Festival is a designated cultural activity of the Soccer World Cup, and is on in Grahamstown from June 20 to July 4, 2010. To get the full festival experience online, click on the National Arts Festival’s advert on this page which will link you through to their website. Booking forms for accommodation, intercity transfers and hopper passes can be downloaded from the site.
Pick up a copy of the Booking Kit / Programme at selected Exclusive Books and Standard Bank branches, and Computicket Outlets. Call the Festival hot line for all enquiries – 046 603 1103 and follows the NAF on Twitter @artsfestival or on Facebook: facebook.com/nationalartsfestival
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
NB: CHANGES TO THE PROGRAMME: On the Main programme the dates and times for Girl in the Yellow Dress are incorrect in Booking Kit. The correct dates and times are June 21 at 18h30, June 22 at 12h00 & 18h30 and June 23 at 10h00 & 14h00. The run for Rivonia Trial has been cancelled. On the Arena programme, there is a cast change for Womb Tide, with Kim Kerfoot replacing Lysander Barends.
On the Fringe programme, the following productions have cancelled their runs at the Festival: Bosman & Mynhardt (Masonic Hall); South Africa: Then & Know (Masonic Hall); Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth (Glennie Fest Centre); Some Mother’s Sons (Glennie Hall); Rose Red (Library Hall); Hard Facts (Masonic Hall) and Graeme Watkins in Concert (Cuervo Music Room). Graeme Watkins will also not be performing on June 24 in Lunch @ Cuervo, or on June 25 and 27 in Late @ Cuervo.
There are also cast changes for Dr. Pockets Ocean Commotion and NATV Live in Grahamstown, with Marc Kay replacing Dylan Edy.
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