NAF IN 37TH SEASON

South Africa’s biggest, longest running and most diverse annual arts celebration is gearing up for its 37th season in Grahamstown to take place from June 30 to July 10, 2011.

The National Arts Festival has an international reputation for being South Africa’s première arts celebration that showcases the best of South African exhibitions and performances in theatre, music, dance and other art forms. The highlights of the Festival will undoubtedly be showcased in its Main programme featuring the imaginatively creative geniuses of the 2011 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners: Ben Schoeman (Music), Neil Coppen (Drama), Nandipha Mntambo (Visual Art), Mamela Nyamza (Dance) and Bokani Dyer (Jazz).

With the Fringe registration deadline closed a barely a few weeks ago, the Fringe Festival has commenced with scheduling more than 280 cutting edge South African productions and at least 10 productions registered from the rest of Africa and Europe.

A number of winning producers of last year’s inaugural Standard Bank Fringe Ovation Award will be premiering new works on the Festival’s Arena programme. The Arena programme, launched in 2010 is an invitation-based bridge for artists between the finely selected Main programme and the open-access and eclectic Fringe programme.

Street theatre productions and visual art presentations in public spaces will once again create a city-wide Festival buzz in Grahamstown and its surrounding areas. A street procession scheduled with giant puppets, stilt-walkers and a number of artists in costumes will parade through Grahamstown’s High Street on July 10. The Festival will close with laser lights and fireworks presented in a spectacular production combining artists from Grahamstown and Argentina.

The popular Village Green Market at the Rhodes Great Field will continue to be a hub for crafts and delicious food catering for diverse palettes while The Fiddler’s Green Market will again host a fully–fledged circus. Audiences in search of literature, stimulating intellectual debates and skills-based development workshops will be at home at Rhodes University’s Eden Grove complex where the Wordfest, Thinkfest and Hands On! Masks Off! programmes will all take place. The Spiritfest programme will run at the Cathedral of St Paul and the Cathedral of St Michael and St George. Nombulelo Hall in Joza will feature a brand new Gospel music line-up this year.

Jazz-lovers can look forward to full line-up at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival at the DSG complex with top South African musicians lined up in an internationally-flavoured programme with some of the best jazz musicians from other parts of the world.

Film enthusiasts will find an exciting line-up in the Festival’s Filmfest programme which has a strong reputation for its esoteric line-up. This year’s Fringe film programme will also be taking new leaps with an exciting format that will give independent film-makers a central space in the film programme.

Three exciting playwright development initiatives will also be homed at the Festival and visitors will be able to attend a series of script reading featuring new writers. The first in the series is a partnership between the Festival and the Wits Theatre’s writing project sponsored by the British Council, Sustained Theatre (UK) and the Department of Arts & Culture. The Novel-Script project will move into its third phase with last year’s winner being sponsored to develop his script for staging at this year’s Fringe programme. A new Argentina-South Africa writer exchange organised by the Proyecto 34S project.

Community-based theatre groups will be featured in the Remix Laboratory, a residency programme that enables emerging artists to perform and attend workshops facilitated by leading artists who will be at the Festival. The Student Theatre Festival will feature 13 productions expressing the voices of the next generation of arts practitioners who are presently enrolled at universities across the country.

While environmentalists and other eco-activists from Cancun to China will gather in Durban to participate in the UN’s 17th COP 17 conference on climate change, the Festival will feature an interactive hub for environmentalists, artists and audiences to engage in creative activities that can help to save the planet. An artwork made from more than 5,000 bottle tops and which was specially commissioned for the Arts Alive festival will receive even wider national and international exposure in Grahamstown.

Visitors en-route to the Festival can this year make a brief stop-over at Route 67 in Port Elizabeth. This is a new National Arts Festival arts route-initiative to be launched and it will feature an arts journey that includes five galleries in Port Elizabeth. Route 67 is an innovative celebration dedicated to the 67-year political career contribution of Nelson Mandela to the South African nation.

With so much on offer, the Amaz!ng 2011 programme will be launched at the end of March, but these few sneak previews might help to get the June/July travel arrangements going.

Visit the National Arts Festival website for travel and accommodation options: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Start booking soon to avoid disappointment. Journalists can apply for media accreditation via the form on the Festival website. 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.

For more information click on the National Arts Festival banner advert at the top of this page which will take you through to the festival’s website)