(Front
row: Lifetime Achievement Awardees: Avhashoni Mainganye, Neville Letard, Thoko
Ntshinga, Prof. Njabulo Ndebele, Prof. Angelo Gobbato & Caroline Smart.
Second
row: ACT ImpAct Awardees: Winner Jefferson Tshabalala with Phelelani Ndakrokra,
Slindile Mthembu, Wezile Mgibe and Neo Mahlangu.
Image
© John Hogg/Arts & Culture Trust)
Since 1998, the ACT Awards have been
bestowed upon individuals and organisations that have made a significant
contribution to cultural life in South Africa. In that time, the awards have
become ACT’s flagship event. The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards are held
annually to recognise and celebrate excellence in South African arts, culture
and heritage.
In spite of the tough economic challenges
that faced South Africa in the year 2019, the arts and culture sector of South
Africa continued to produce work of a high calibre. With the 2020 instalment of
the awards held at River Meadow Manor, a boutique hotel and venue in Irene,
Pretoria, the awards continued to honour those that have created a lasting
legacy within the arts through the Lifetime Achievement Awards and to recognize
those young artists who not only walk in those footsteps of the old but are
creating a lasting impression of their own as ImpACT Award Finalists for Young
Professionals.
With the overarching sentiment from the
Lifetime Achievement Awards Recipients being that artists need to see
themselves not only as artists but also as businesses, the ImpACT Award
Finalists certainly left with a few words of wisdom to inspire them to be the
next generation of possible Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients.
2020
ACT Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
Caroline Smart – Arts Advocacy: Sponsored
by the City of Johannesburg
Neville Letard – Dance: Sponsored by the
Arts & Culture Trust
Prof. Njabulo Ndebele – Literature:
Sponsored by the Dramatic Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation
Prof. Angelo Gobbato – Music: Sponsored by
the Southern African Music Rights Organisation
Thoko Ntshinga – Theatre: Sponsored by the
Arts & Culture Trust
Avhashoni Mainganye – Visual Art sponsored
by Nedbank
2020
ACT ImpAct Award Winner
Jefferson Tshabalala – Sponsored by Sun
International
Jefferson Bobs Tshabalala is the founder
and co-owner of the Johannesburg based live-arts production house, Kiri Pink
Nob Arts (Pty) Ltd. This company produces multidisciplinary productions. Having
gone through the famed “struggling artist” stage and experiencing the hardships
that come along with pursuing their passion, Tshabalala wanted to change the
narrative for those who would follow him.
Tshabalala has been an educator at Wits
University and The Market Theatre Lab. Sharing his skills and experience is
something he is intent on doing because of his love for the art, even more, his
love for people continues to move him forward.
The ImpACT Award Finalists also consisted
of the following:
Neo Mahlangu
Wezile Mgibe
Phelelani Ndakrokra
Slindile Mthembu
The 2020 ACT Awards were hosted by The Arts
& Culture Trust and supported by the City of Johannesburg, DALRO, SAMRO,
Nedbank, Sun International, Ngwenya Glass and River Meadow Manor.
The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is South
Africa’s premier independent arts funding and development agency. The primary
aim of ACT is to increase the amount of funding available for arts and culture
initiatives and to apply these funds to innovative, sustainable projects that
make a meaningful contribution to society. Through structured funding
programmes, ACT provides support for all expressions of arts and culture,
including literature, music, visual art, theatre and dance, and the support
extends to festivals, community arts initiatives, arts management, arts
education and arts administration. Follow ACT on Twitter at https://twitter.com
or like the trust’s Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/TheArtsandCultureTrust/.
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