(Charmaine Soobramoney: BASA Chairman & Ashraf Johaardien: BASA CEO. Photos by Theana Breugem)
Deadline: January 22, 2021
In 2021, BASA’s Supporting Grants Programme continues to synergise business and art relationships and is currently open for applications.
Since inception, Business and Arts South Africa NPC (BASA) has been a significant catalyst and connector, both cementing and amplifying powerful partnerships between more than 1,600 business and arts partners, to effect meaningful social change.
“Over the years, volatile economic conditions have incrementally increased the pressure on business to justify the value and benefit of partnering with the creative sector, as arts-related benefits are often deemed to be intangible; difficult to quantify in terms of return on investment,” says BASA Chairman, Charmaine Soobramoney. “The BASA model has continued to deliver value to our stakeholders, partners and sponsors, with every R1 million of Supporting Grant funding allocated to projects leveraging R10 million in support from the private sector during the last financial year,” she adds.
BASA CEO, Ashraf Johaardien explains that BASA’s Supporting Grant Programme assists in activating sponsorship for a cross-section of arts projects in different regions of the country, by providing vital financial support to a project that is in an existing business and art relationship: “To date, BASA has disbursed over R40 million to more than 1,600 projects, which in turn has leveraged in excess of R515 million in sponsorship from the business sector.
“BASA Grants have a slightly different lens to conventional funding and development agencies, in that our focus is on amplifying and extending existing partnerships between arts and businesses that aim to meaningfully impact society through shared value and social cohesion. So, it is important for prospective applicants to note that the purpose of Supporting Grants has never been to fund projects per se, but rather to support partnerships between the business sector and the creative sector.”
The application process for Supporting Grants has been simplified, with interested parties simply submitting a formal letter of interest as a first step, and BASA then inviting eligible applicants to complete an online application. The first deadline for letters of interest is January 22, 2021.
Visit https://basa.co.za/, click on the ‘Grants’ tab and navigate to ‘Supporting Grants’ for detailed criteria and further guidelines. Note that the decision of the BASA Board of Directors with regard to the outcomes of Supporting Grant Programme applications is final and no further correspondence will be entered into. Enquiries may be directed to Sipho Mthiyane at sipho@basa.co.za
(To link direct to the BASA website, click on the advert to the right of this article or visit www.basa.co.za)
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