OTHELLO SUPPORTED BY BASA

Six business and arts partnerships have been named recipients of Business and Arts South Africa’s Supporting Grant Scheme in the latest funding cycle.

Among them is a project that sets out to make Shakespeare accessible to matric learners. Staged by Margie Coppen’s Big Creek Trading 51 company and sponsored by the University of Johannesburg, this production of Othello is for matrics by matrics and will be staged at multiple locations in Johannesburg, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Richards Bay, Dundee, Ladysmith and Port Shepstone.

Othello is currently running at the Playhouse until March 11.

Other recipients in the latest funding cycle are the 2011 Dance Umbrella Festival, Skin which is a project of the Friends of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; the Limpopo-based visual arts project Something Blue, the Cape Winelands Film Festival (CWFF) and the Cape Town Opera.

The Business and Arts South Africa Supporting Grants are awarded six times in the financial year after deliberation by the organisation’s board. In a carefully designed and monitored process, both the arts applicant and the sponsor complete application forms.

Available on www.basa.co.za, these forms are designed to encourage the two partners to work together and identify areas of potential benefit. Business and Arts South Africa’s board allocates funds to the project once it has assessed how the partnership benefits both the sponsor and the recipient. This is in keeping with the organisation’s belief in taking arts projects from “seed to strength to sustainability.”

Business and Arts South Africa Supporting Grant Scheme is funded by an annual allocation from the Department of Arts and Culture, this scheme continues to serve as a mechanism through which business and the arts can engage and achieve mutual benefit.

The deadline for the final round of Business and Arts South Africa Supporting Grants for the 2010/2011 financial year is on March 15, 2011.