NAC REFOCUSES ITS FUNDING MODEL

The National Arts Council (NAC) has announced changes in its funding model and is embarking on a countrywide tour of workshops to explain the new model to various stakeholders.

This new model follows a strategic realignment process which led the NAC setting new goals to address country imperatives and funding needs of the arts sector. The new funding model will see the NAC move away from a discipline-based approach to funding and introduce a programmatic “funding for impact” approach that allocates funding to beneficiaries located within specified programmes.

This means moving forward, calls for funding will focus on programmes that advance priorities such as Social Cohesion and Nation Building, Innovation, Design and Creation, Arts platforms / Showcases / Exhibitions / Festivals, Strategic Initiatives and Capacity Building.

This replaces a funding model that focused on beneficiaries based on disciplines like theatre, visual arts, literature, music, multidiscipline, dance and craft.

The National Arts Council of South Africa was established in April 1997 through an Act of Parliament and is a national implementing agency mandated by the Department of Arts and Culture. The vision of the NAC is to promote, through the arts, the free expression of South Africa’s cultures and its mission is to both develop the country’s creative industries and to promote excellence in the arts.

“As a funding arm of the Department of Arts and Culture, the NAC is tasked with making catalytic investments in the sector to enable growth and sustainability by supporting the work produced by artists and cultural workers in the interest of nation building. So we had to be responsive to the changing nature of the sector. Increasingly, our artists’ produce work that converge multiple disciplines as they respond with inspiration to our social realities. As an organisation, we have to adequately reflect this converged creative environment as we continue to suitably partner with our various stakeholders,” says Rosemary Mangope CEO of NAC.

The workshop tour will kick start in July, with workshops taking place in Mpumalanga, North West, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State. More information on the dates and venues can be found on the NAC website http://www.nac.org.za/ and on social media platforms.