The fast-growing Im4thearts organisation
will hold a gathering in Durban on Sunday, March 15, 2020, at the North Beach
Amphitheatre. Similar functions are being held throughout the country.
The following is the information from the
organisers:
Dear practitioners and lovers of the arts,
Within the last six months there have been
a large number of closures of Festivals and/or Arts organisations. There have
also been a variety of high-profile arts institutions in the news, mentioned in
connection with all sorts of wrong-doings.
The majority of artists and arts
practitioners are fed up with the status quo - many of them are unemployed, or
are struggling to make ends meet. Musicians are playing to half-full halls,
artists sit with works that they are unable to sell, and attendance in general
is dwindling across the sector. Arts marketing, advertising, design and
printing companies are going out of business because organisations just don't
have budget to market or advertise any more.
Arts is nothing without the people who
create it, but equally is it nothing without the people who support it. It is a
mutually beneficial activity, with numerous scientific studies demonstrating
the benefits of artistic pursuits, whether active or passive.
South African artists are not ones to sit
idly by and watch as the industry falls into nothing, and so, as a first step,
we are trying to raise awareness of how the arts is found everywhere, and is
involved intricately in everybody's lives, every day!
We realise that everyone is busy, but this
coming Sunday (March 15, 2020) there are two things that you can do very easily
from the comfort of your own home, anywhere in the country, which would assist
us in the first steps of our campaign to raise awareness of how the arts are
everywhere!
1) Temporarily change your social media
profile pictures to the one pictured above.
2) Film a little clip of yourself saying
the following:
Hello, I'm (YOUR NAME).
I'm a (musician/dancer/visual
artist/theatre practitioner/arts administrator etc)
OR ALTERNATIVELY
I love (buying paintings/attending
concerts/watching movies/listening to the radio/buying books/ etc - whatever
you love that is related to the arts)
AND I'M FOR THE ARTS! (this is the most
important line)
Post this clip on social media with the
hashtag #Im4thearts and tag @Im4thearts.
We will have various threads going on all
social media platforms on Sunday, so you can also search for the hashtag and
join in the conversation.
Our arts and culture is a tapestry that
binds us together, and is one of the things that distinguishes us from the rest
of the world. Let's stand together and show how each of our individual threads
can come together to create one astonishing big picture. #strongertogether
#im4thearts #keeptheartsalive
Please encourage family and friends to
participate. The more people involved the better.
The KwaZulu Natal gathering takes place
from 11h00 to 14h00 at the North Beach Amphitheatre in Durban.
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