(Yvette
Hardie receiving the Naledi Award for Executive Director)
ASSITEJ South Africa scooped the
prestigious Executive Directors Award at the Naledi Theatre Awards in March
2013, for making a significant contribution to the advancement and development
of SA theatre through their vision and commitment to developing theatre for
children and young people across the country.
On receiving the award, International
President ASSITEJ, Yvette Hardie, was delighted at this recognition of
ASSITEJ's core vision and its innovative programmes. She spoke passionately at
the awards ceremony, calling all artists to commit to being part of a joint
endeavour to give all South African children – and particularly the vulnerable
and poor – access to the best that the arts have to offer as a fundamental
human right.
She said that "ASSITEJ is deeply
grateful to the many artists, individuals, theatres, sponsors, schools and
businesses who have contributed to growing the ASSITEJ "Take a Child to the
Theatre Today" Campaign and our other programmes. We feel this is just the
beginning of the journey we are embarked on, and we encourage those who believe
similarly to join ASSITEJ SA today, and become part of a global network of
artists all working to ensure that children and young people experience the
transformative power of the arts in their lives."
ASSITEJ SOUTH AFRICA is the national centre
of an international organisation spanning 85 countries across the world. Its
aims are to improve the quality of theatre for children and young people and to
stimulate new young audiences through local development and innovation, and
through international networking and exchange. It works strategically with
partners and members to maximise benefits for children and youth, to synergise
opportunities for artists, to pilot and model innovative projects, and to
replicate them across the country.
ASSITEJ SA was established in July 2007
under the leadership of Director, Yvette Hardie, who now also serves as
International President of the Association (2011 – 2014). In just over five
years, this network organisation has raised the profile of theatre for young
audiences, and ensured that thousands of children, focusing particularly on the
most vulnerable and disadvantaged, and those living in rural or peri-urban
areas, are able to experience the power of the theatre in their lives, and to
realize that their own potential is limitless. In 2014, the organisation will
be bidding for the 2017 ASSITEJ World Congress.
ASSITEJ SA believes that every child and
young person in South Africa deserves access to the arts, and especially to
live theatre, from the earliest possible age, and calls on all those working in
the arts and supporting the arts, to join hands as an active network working
together to facilitate this vision.
For more information contact Yusrah
Bardien, ASSITEJ SA Communications and Office Manager on 021 822 0070/1/2 or
email info@assitej.org.za
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