(Directed, written and
choreographed by Musawenkosi and Bongumusa Shabalala, “10 Days in a Shebeen” won a
Merit Award for Durban-based Umsindo Theatre Projects)
Artistic excellence
was celebrated at the National Arts Festival this morning (July 10) when the
winners of the 2016 Standard Bank Ovation Awards were revealed at a ceremony
which also honoured outgoing National Arts Festival Artistic Director, Ismail
Mahomed.
Commenting on the
impact of the awards, Mahomed said, “The Ovation Awards have earned a
significant gravitas in the arts sector. They have become a barometer for
audiences and visiting arts managements about productions that should not be
missed. Artists at the Festival have been bold and have used their talents and
skills to engage with burning issues in the most creative ways.”
STANDARD BANK OVATIONS WINNERS 2016
Standard Bank Standing Ovation Awards: The 2016 Standard Bank Standing Ovation
Award was presented to the French Institute of South Africa and the Embassy of
France for two decades of supporting visionary collaborations and exchanges
between South African and French artists.
A Standard Bank
Standing Ovation Award was also presented to Gary Gordon to honour his
longstanding creative energy in South Africa’s cultural life and his enormously
significant contributions to the vitality of the National Arts Festival’s Main,
Fringe and Arena programmes.
A surprise Standing
Ovation Award was presented to Ismail Mahomed who ends his tenure as Artistic
Director of the National Arts Festival at the end of July. Speaking at the announcement,
National Arts Festival CEO, Tony Lankester, recognised the nine-year commitment
that Mahomed had made to the Festival, saying that he had “transformed the
programme, filled it with richness and left a lasting legacy of excellence”.
The Adelaide Tambo Human Rights Award: The 2016 Adelaide Tambo Award for Human
Rights is presented to Drama for Life, a global leader in the integrated
approach to arts for social transformation and healing. Their performances and
public engagement initiatives explore, serve and grow the role of arts for
social change. At the 2016 National Arts Festival, Drama For Life presented Afri-Queer, a production that brought
together artists from across South Africa’s borders to give a voice that
humanises and gives dignity to those who continue to be oppressed. Drama for
Life has also devised and executed the Festival’s 2016 Remix Laboratory
programme.
Standard Bank Ovations Awards: The Standard Bank Ovations Awards are only
given to new productions on the National Lottery Fringe. Once a production has
been awarded an Ovation Award, the Company is invited to propose a new work to
the following year’s Arena programme.
The National
Lotteries Commission contributed R10 million to the Fringe this year, and
assumed naming rights to the event. Says National Lotteries Commission media
representative, Sershan Naidoo: “The National Lotteries Commission is honoured
to have been the principal funder of the National Lottery Fringe and
congratulates all the worthy Ovation winners. The NLC is proud to have been
able to provide a platform for the talent that has been recognized at this
year's National Arts Festival".
Of the more than
318 productions and performances submitted to the National Lottery Fringe this
year, 232 were premiers and eligible for consideration for an Award. Says
Standard Bank Ovations Awards Chairperson, Tracey Saunders: “The new
productions on this year’s programme ranged from the staging of familiar South
African texts to established international scripts, deeply personal monologues
to epic family sagas and some ground-breaking new texts straddling the terrain
in between.”
Saunders went on to
say that despite economic constraints and the general feeling of malaise
gripping the country, the National Lottery Fringe continues to excite and
entertain and, more importantly, provoke conversations and ask questions of us
as individuals and society.
Hazel Chimhandamba,
Head of Group Sponsorships at Standard Bank commended all the 2016 winners,
“Standard Bank applauds the efforts of all the individuals involved in the
Festival and the organisations that contributed to its success. We are very
proud to be associated with awarding those who represent South Africa’s
artistic landscape.”
The winners for
2016 are as follows:
GOLD AWARD:
Rust Co-Operative
for Sillage (Theatre)
SILVER AWARDS:
Artscape for Ityala Lamawele (Theatre)
Alan Parker for Sacre
for One (Dance)
Rust Co-Operative
for The Graveyard (Theatre)
Artscape for Die Glas Ennie Draad (Theatre)
Explosiv
Productions for Dangled (Theatre)
OVATION AWARDS:
Kristin Hua NG-Yang
for BIRD/FISH (Dance)
Matt Newman for Cock (Theatre)
Sibikwa Arts Centre
for Chapter 2 Section 9 (Theatre)
Theatre for Africa
for Ebola (Theatre)
Uyabona Ke for Falling Off the Horn (Physical Theatre)
Artscape for Henrietta with Love (Theatre)
One Shushu Day
Artistry for Msaki and the Golden Circle
(Music)
Nombasa for Nombasa (Music)
Hungry Minds
Productions for Out of Bounds (Theatre)
Lebo Leisa for Paleho (Theatre)
Neo Motsatse for The Concert (Music)
Bloom & Stone
for Tease! (Comedy)
Liquid Fusion for Burn (Dance)
Moving into Dance
Mophatong for ...feathers... (Dance)
Klara van Wyk for You Suck: and Other Inescapable Truths (Comedy)
UJ Arts &
Culture (a Division of FADA) for For
Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf (Theatre)
Lexi Meier for Fabric of the Universe (Performance Art)
ExploSIV
Productions for Thenx Presents Aza-Nya is
Five-To (Comedy)
Daneel van der Walt
for Dani and the Lion (Cabaret)
MERIT AWARDS:
Sibonele Dance
Project for Abangawona (The Unseen) –
(Dance)
Umsindo Theatre
Projects for 10 Days in a Shebeen (Theatre)
– this is a Durban-based production company
Slindile Mthembu
for Milked Voice (Theatre)
Well Worn Theatre
Co for Rat Race (Theatre)
Outreach Foundation
(Hillbrow Theatre) for Isaro (Theatre)
ENCORE AWARD:
ExploSIV
Productions for The Dark Ages (Comedy)
STUDENT THEATRE AWARDS
Awards for the best
works by students at the National Arts Festival were decided by a panel,
convened by Jacqueline Dommisse, which included Lee-Ann van Rooi and Bertina
Johnson.
Nominated for the Most Promising Playwright
of the Year Award:
Thembela Madliki of
Rhodes University for Nyanga
The cast of Pharmakon by University of the Free
State for a devised script
Winner of the Most Promising Playwright of
the Year Award:
Namisa Mdlaloze
& Pueng Stewart for University Of Cape Town’s Figs
Nominated for the Most Promising Director
Award:
Sarah Nansubuga of Wits
University for The Village
Dara Beth of University
of Cape Town for Figs
Winner of the Most Promising Director Award
Thembela Madliki of
Rhodes University for Nyanga
Nominated for Best Production Award:
University Of Cape
Town for Figs
Winner of Best Production Award:
Rhodes University
for Nyanga
SHORT, SHARP STORIES COLLECTION
The annual
anthology of Short, Sharp Stories was launched at the National Arts Festival
this week. Die Laughing “stories of
wit, satire and humour” – was edited by Joanne Hichens, who is also the curator
of the competition. The authors included in the collection were announced and
awarded at the National Arts Festival:
BEST STORY: This Could Get Messy by Greg Lazarus.
Runners up were This Is Not A Joke,
Maureen by Gail Schimmel and Angel Heart
by Kobus Moolman
EDITOR’S CHOICE: Learning a New Language by Fred Khumalo
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Jim Goes to Durban by Anton Krueger and
Pravasan Pillay; Number One With A Bullet
by Christopher McMichael; The Derby by
Ofentse Ribane; The Viewing Room by Diane
Awerbuck; and The Seduction of Ozzie
Stone by Stephen Symons
Earlier in the
week, South African author, Lidudumalingani won the 2016 Caine Prize for
African Writing for his short story Memories
We Lost, which featured in the 2015 Short, Sharp Stories anthology Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You.
The 2016 National
Arts Festival which closes today (July 10) is grateful to the National
Lotteries Commission, the Department of Arts and Culture, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government, M-Net and Standard Bank of South Africa.
For more
information on the National Arts Festival click on the banner advert at the top
of this page or visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
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