(The
impressive Monument Building which looks out over the city of Grahamstown and
houses the Festival administration offices)
Overall attendance to the Festival was at
211,701, a marginal 7,000 decrease over the 2012 figure, according to CEO Tony
Lankester. “Bearing in mind that 2012 was an all-time record audience for the
Festival, coming close to maintaining attendance is a major achievement and points
to the quality of work our artists are capable of producing,” he said. The rand
value of tickets sold increased marginally, by 1.56%. This figure excludes
“donations” received by approximately 108 productions which made up the “Free
Fringe”.
“Over a five-year rolling average we have
seen audience growth of around 20% since 2009. This is a healthy trajectory for
the arts and for the economics of arts,” Lankester said. “Annual spikes and
drops in audience would be worrying – organic, steady growth over time is a lot
more reassuring and sustainable.”
On the Main programme, audiences flocked to
a variety of performances. “The list of sold-out shows on the Main is long, but
includes the Gala Concert, Beautiful
Creatures, Asinamali, Woza Albert, The Last Moustache, My Name is Rachel Corrie
and Pieter Dirk Uys’ two performances. On the Standard Bank Jazz Festival
programme, Gloria Bosman, MiCasa, Jonas Gwangwa, Vusi Mahlasela and Standard
Bank Young Artist Award winner Shane Cooper were among those who played to
packed houses,” said Artistic Director Ismail Mahomed.
A series of talks on the ThinkFest
programme by music guru Richard Haslop called Richard Haslop’s Listening Lounge, in which he explored topics as
diverse as Bob Dylan, Touareg Blues and the accordion were all sold out. So,
too, was the end-of-Festival Pops Concert featuring the Eastern Cape
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Richard Cock and featuring Zwai Bala.
Gold Standard Bank Ovation Award winner Dan
Patlansky’s collaboration with Karen Zoid sold out the Guy Butler Theatre
mid-Fest, while the final weekend saw audiences taking advantage of the “50%
Fringe” on the Festival’s last day.
Several new initiatives in Grahamstown this
year, such as the introduction of the late-night “Standard Bank Jazz &
Blues Café” drove support for live music higher; while the Fringe saw an
increasing amount of collaboration between performers working in collectives to
share their costs and spread the financial risk of performing at the Festival.
The Festival attributed part of the success
of its Main programme to a number of partnerships which boosted both production
and marketing budgets – these included deals with the Mandela Bay Development
Agency, the SA Post Office, the National Film and Video Foundation and the
Eastern Cape Performing Arts Council. “These partnerships contribute directly
to the content of our programme, freeing us up to invest in some new voices and
create a wider platform for our artists,” said Mahomed.
Turning his attention to the Fringe,
Mahomed added: “Attendance figures for individual productions indicate that
Comedy and Theatre are still the staples of the Fringe.” The top grossing
production on the Fringe was Festival newcomer Riaad Moosa’s Doctors Orders Tour, closely followed by
two Fringe stalwarts – the 2013 incarnation of the ‘Raiders’ franchise, The Whiskey Raiders, and Big Boys II, the follow up to the smash Big Boys Don’t Dance.
“What is gratifying is that in the Top 10
grossing productions there are three theatre shows – The Three Little Pigs, Crazy in Love and Dirt. Last year only one theatre production – London Road – featured on that list, the rest was comedy,” Mahomed concluded.
Two productions on the Fringe – The Brothers Streep and Epicene Butcher and Other Tales for Consenting
Adults – were 100% sold out for their whole run in Grahamstown, with Butlers and Billionaires, Big Boys II,
and Siv Ngesi’s Race Card having just
a handful of seats to spare.
A feature of the Festival this year was the
large number of free performances.
“We know that the economic climate has a
potentially damaging effect on audiences, and so we consciously tried to create
events that crowds could enjoy on the streets of Grahamstown and in our
venues,” Lankester said. These initiatives included two Street Parades which
saw about 200 local community based artists perform alongside artists from
elsewhere in South African and abroad; an investment in the Fingo Festival
which ran workshops and staged productions for audiences in Fingo Village; and
a number of free performances in the Monument’s Guy Butler Theatre and Fountain
Foyer.
Apart from the attendance figures, the
Festival also highlighted other data which helps paint a picture of the impact
of the event.
“In 2009 we saw the Festival making a
contribution to the GDP of Grahamstown of around R60m,” said Lankester. “We
commissioned some fresh research this year to establish the wider impact of the
Festival – on both the District and Province. “ The results of that research
are expected to be made known later this year.
The 40th edition of the National Arts
Festival, Grahamstown will take place from June 26 to July 6, 2014. See www.nationalartsfestival.co.za,
or the National Arts Festival Grahamstown on Facebook, or @artsfestival on
Twitter, for more information.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by
Standard Bank, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Eastern Cape
Government, Department of Arts and Culture, National Arts Council, City Press
and M Net.
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