(Zethu
Dhlomo in MoMo Matsunyane's “Penny” - National Arts Festival 2016)
To avoid a big dose of
Festival #FOMO, it’s time to start planning for a trip to the country’s biggest
bucket-list cultural and social celebration, The National Arts Festival. This
year’s Festival takes place from the June 29 until July 9.
Spanning 11 days, the
Festival is held in the Eastern Cape city of Grahamstown, the population of
which is boosted by tens of thousands of visitors who buy around 220,000
tickets. For many it’s an annual pilgrimage and with so many artists, crews and
journalists in town, visitors are advised to beat the crowds and make bookings
now.
The National Arts
Festival’s website is packed with information on how to navigate the
experience, and there is an active community of experienced Festival-goers on Twitter and on the Festival’s Facebook page. Follow these channels for tips on getting to the
Festival, booking your accommodation and getting around once you are there.
Here are some ideas to
get the planning into gear:
FLY OR DRIVE
South Africa’s major
airports all service airlines which fly to Port Elizabeth and East London.
After touching down in either of these destinations, the trip to Grahamstown is
about 130km. Hire a car or jump on board a shuttle. There are various tour
and bus companies that provide airport shuttles and transport in and around
Grahamstown, see the details in the National Arts Festival’s Hospitality Brochure.
A drive to Grahamstown
from Cape Town is 872km (via the Garden Route) and from Johannesburg 992km (via
Colesburg). Make a road trip of it and stop off to explore South Africa along
the way. Visitors coming from Gauteng or the Free State should make a beeline
for Smithfield and their annual Platteland Preview
Festival, which runs from June 30 to July 2 this
year. The small town hosts artists en route to the National Arts Festival for
free in return for a very special sneak-peek at their shows.
FINDING A BED
Grahamstown certainly
knows the drill after hosting the Festival for the last 42 years. Festival
visitors can expect accommodation ranging from upmarket B&B’s to student
residence rooms and self-catering houses. Accommodation in the town fills up
fast - with repeat Festival fans and artists reserving all their favourite
spots well in advance.
The Festival provides a
list of accommodation agents and establishments who can assist in connecting
Festival-goers to their nests – download the accommodation brochure on www.nationalartsfestival.com
For an immersive
experience of the town and its people, a home stay will connect visitors to
accommodation in Grahamstown’s township homes. See www.grahamstown.co.za for more. The Grahamstown
Hospitality Guild not only assists visitors in
finding accommodation but also grades all of their members’ accommodation
annually.
Going beyond, families
can combine a beach holiday with their Festival by staying in nearby Port
Alfred (57km away) or Kenton-on-Sea (59km away). This is also a good option for
those on a budget with large houses available to share between groups of
friends or artists.
Visitors can even blend
a bit of history into their Festival experience by staying at the legendary Pig
and Whistle Hotel in Bathurst (45km). There are also numerous game farms and
farm stay options on the outskirts of Grahamstown; for these and many other
options outside of the town, visit Makana Tourism 046 622 3241 or www.sunshinecoasttourism.co.za 046 625 1235 for Port Alfred and www.kentontourism.co.za 046 648 2411 for Kenton-on-Sea.
GETTING AROUND
The Festival works with local travel operators to create the
Festival Hopper – which is free to use (although tips are appreciated by the
drivers) – and travels from venue to venue. Cabs on Call also offer private and
direct trips for one to two passengers to wherever you need to go at R70 a trip
(within a 5km radius) and R100 within a 10km radius.
FESTIVAL FOR FAMILIES
Families looking to
share their cultural fix with the kids will be pleased to know about the
Standard Bank Children’s Art Festival. Hosted at St Andrew’s School, the line-up accommodates
children from 4-13 years old through a number of programmes. From the day
programmes for the littlies (including meals) to a full-board experience for 12
and 13 year-olds, the Standard Bank Children’s Art Festival includes crafts and
workshops as well as supervised Festival visits for the older children. In
addition to the Standard Bank Children’s Arts Festival and plenty of
family-friendly shows, families can also head down to Fiddlers’ Green for the
daily Fun Fare which operates throughout the Festival.
BOOK YOUR TICKETS
In 2017 the Festival
will be doing staggered reveals of the programme and as a result tickets for
some of the big shows will come online before the main box office opens early
in May. Stay tuned to the Festival’s social media platforms and watch the news
for details. The programme will also be available online from late April and a
limited run of printed programmes will be available at select Exclusive Books
and Standard Bank outlets and some theatres from mid-May.
All ticket bookings can
be done via www.nationalartsfestival.co.za, or through the Festival call centre on 0860 002 004.
Tickets range in price from R20 to R130, with discounts for pensioners,
students and learners. Once at the Festival, there are a number of physical box
offices at the Festival, where visitors can purchase tickets using cash, cards
or Snapscan.
First time
Festival-goers might find it strange to book their flights and accommodation
before seeing the programme – but they needn’t worry. There is always plenty of
edgy and exciting work on the programme and lots to do in between the shows.
WRAP UP WARMLY
Grahamstown is known
for its icy cold nights. Despite the often warmer days, be sure to pack in a
warm jacket and some woolly accessories. There are also lots of local spots to
thaw out in including pop-up restaurant, The Long Table, sushi at Cape Town
Edge and, by day, the ever-popular and varied options at the Village Green.
KEEP AN EYE ON THE FEEDS
The National Arts
Festival runs from 29 June-9 July 2017. Follow the Festival’s feeds and be part
of the community on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalartsfestival
Twitter: @artsfestival
Instagram: @nationalartsfestival
#NAF17
SPONSORS
The National Arts
Festival is grateful to: the Department of Arts and Culture, Eastern Cape
Provincial Government, MNet, City Press and Standard Bank of South Africa.
(To
link direct to the NAF site click on the large banner that runs across the top
of this blog)
Posts
