KZN RISING STARS INVITATION CONCERT

 

(Founder of Friends of Music, Dr Vera Dubin)

 

Friends of Music and South African Society of Music Teachers (Durban) (SASMT) have again joined forces to bring you their annual showcase of the Cream of the Crop - KZN’s best up and coming musicians.

This will take place on September 14, 2025, at 14h30 at the Durban Jewish Centre, North Beach.

This years’ performers who will offer a varied programme include (amongst others)

Aran Singh (piano),

Bjarne Nissen (piano)

Joslyn Walters (voice),

Weien Amy Luo (piano)

Bukhosi Dlamini (saxophone),

Wan Yuan Lai (flute)

Wiehun Yan (piano),

Weiru (piano)

Tshegofatso Mphtswe (piano)

 

Tickets: R100 (R50 scholars, pensioners and orchestra members) available at the door – Cash only)

This year’s concert is dedicated to the memory of the founder of Friends of Music, Dr Vera Dubin who passed away at the age of 100 on Sunday August 25, 2025.

For more information go to millark.millar@gmail.com or phone 0715051021 (Keith)

JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS 2025: REVIEW

(Above: Live Open Horizons_ pic by Val Adamson)

Embodied Borders and Ecological Grief: Dance as Resistance in JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons 2025 by Amahle Radebe, JOMBA! Khuluma Dance Writing Residency Participant for 2025

Edited by Marcia Mzindle and Clare Craighead for JOMBA! Khuluma

The 2025 JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons platform once again affirmed the festival’s commitment to nurturing diverse, experimental voices in contemporary dance.

This year’s winner, Simunye by Brenda “BreeH” Cele, stood out as a powerful docu-dance film blending movement and storytelling to confront climate change through a South African lens. The film meditates on the interconnectedness of humans and nature, focusing particularly on the ocean as both a fragile ecosystem and a spiritual site of unity.

Exploring the festival’s broader theme, Moving Border/Lands, the platform also featured five other compelling works: Of Impermanent Things by Jacques Batista and Werner Marx (South Africa), Know Body by Alan Parker (South Africa), Brief Visits to Shadows by Sasha Fourie (South Africa), The Space Between Us by Maulid Owino (Kenya), and Radix by Mario Gaglione (Italy/South Africa).

Opening the programme, Of Impermanent Things placed Werner Marx in shifting landscapes — first a desert-like site, then green mountains beside a stone figure. His small, precise gestures suggested the act of marking or claiming space, the body both fragile and enduring in relation to its environment.

Alan Parker’s Know Body interrogated embodiment and self-awareness through the words of Baruch Spinoza: “We do not know what a body can do.” Performed by four dancers in a library, the choreography moved from walking and crawling to physical confrontation. Struggle and resistance were written into clenched fists and collisions, while a later sequence — set to Boubacar Traoré’s Kar Kar Madison — transformed the space into one of play and challenge, as dancers disrupted shelves and “moved the borders” of bodily possibility.

Sasha Fourie’s Brief Visits to Shadows offered an intimate solo of memory and trauma. Beginning with the act of lighting and extinguishing a flame, the dancer moved between gestures of fragility and collapse, her body pressed against walls and curled on the floor in sorrow — a stark embodiment of loss.

Maulid Owino’s The Space Between Us explored intimacy and rupture in a romantic relationship. A duet unfolded through graceful Ballet phrases, but distance soon intervened: as the dancers separated, Owino was left alone, clutching his chest before sinking to the floor. The choreography captured how love can dissolve into absence.

Mario Gaglione’s Radix (Latin for “root”) raised questions of origin and belonging. Beginning in darkness with cyan light playing across his body, the solo evolved into a Balletic exploration in the studio. His leaps across floor markings suggested both boundaries and their transgression — a meditation on borders both visible and imagined.

Closing the programme, Cele’s Simunye resonated as a deeply urgent call for ecological consciousness. Through ritual, imagery, and metaphor, the work framed the ocean as sacred, a site where prayer, healing, and survival converge. Coins and the ibhayi lezangoma (traditional healer’s cloth) evoked ancestral practices, while dancers with plastic over their faces embodied suffocation — a stark image of how pollution strangles ocean life. Footage of dead fish and whales, and a reference to Durban’s 2017 tsunami, intensified the film’s warning: “The Ocean is Angry.”

Cele reminds us: “You and I are the same.” In her vision, protecting the sea means protecting ourselves — for biodiversity, spirituality, and survival are intertwined. With exceptional clarity, Simunye insists that we are the lifeguards of the ocean, responsible for resisting destruction and safeguarding the future.

The JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS remains available on the JOMBA! YouTube channel for the remainder of the festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ6ZAf22OPI

JOMBA! Khuluma

The JOMBA! Khuluma is a Dance Writing Residency that runs as part of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience.  The residency has taken on many shapes and forms since its inaugural edition under the mentorship of Adrienne Sichel in 2010, including international and local participation and inter-university engagement including institutions such as UKZN, DUT and Wits University as well as The University of East London in the UK.  The aim of the Khuluma is to nurture the next generation of dance writers in South Africa.

 

JOMBA! EXCITING PROGRAMME THIS YEAR: REVIEW

 

JOMBA! has an exciting programme this year

(Both dance works offer ground-breaking challenges to societal irregularities through unconventional dance experiences. Review by Dr Verne Rowin Munsamy)

And Still we rise...

This year JOMBA! has an exciting programme of live dance and digital dance works from across the globe. Friday night's line-up showcased two works from Spain and the Ivory Coast. Both dance pieces explored a fusion of live dance and video projections that reimagined the concept of traditional dance pieces.

The first dance piece, titled Spanish Focus: Flood, is choreographed by Meritxell Barberá and Inna Garcia in collaboration with dancer Lara Misó (Spain) and Zinhle Nzama (South Africa).

The pieces had two focal points, the video which showed the destructive nature of water through flooding and unstoppable torrents juxtaposed with the ebbing and flowing of a gentle ocean.

We retrace the steps of a Spanish woman as she witnesses this destructive force through towns and cities but also the rebirth of nature and infrastructure that happens after the waters have subsided. These images are complimented by the gentle contemporary dance technique that also saw the dancer mimic this ebb and flow through a gentle contemporary choreography. The dance was looped and repeated so as to ensure that you don't miss the choreography while simultaneously focusing on the video.

The second dance work, entitle BLACK, is choreographed and danced by Oulouy (Spain/Ivory Coast). This fusion between live dance and video highlights the plight and subjugation of Black men around the world as a global phenomenon that needs to be addressed and challenged. The choreographic style fused hip-hop and crunk and while simplic in nature compared to other dance styles was impactful and mesmerizing. The piece fused poetry, video and dance to create a unique experience for audiences.

Both dance works offer ground-breaking challenges to societal irregularities through unconventional dance experiences. Both solos were captivating and pleasing to watch. I look forward to the rest of the Jomba! programme in the days to come. - Dr Verne Rowin Munsamy

 

KZNPO EARLY SPRING SEASON CONCERT 1: REVIEW

 

KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra

World Symphony Series - Early Spring Season 2025 Concert 1

The Playhouse Opera

August 28, 2025

 

(Conductor Brandon Phillips proved able to galvanize and meld a group of regulars, both experienced and new to the game, and a cohort of now ever-present extra players into a remarkably coherent ensemble. (Review by David Smith)

 

Capetonian Brandon Phillips returned to KZN to conduct the first of two symphony concerts that mark our ‘early spring’. He proved able to galvanize and meld a group of regulars, both experienced and new to the game, and a cohort of now ever-present extra players into a remarkably coherent ensemble. He also had three compositions that proved excellent vehicles for the opening of a ‘season’.

Like much of the music associated with the end of his life, Mozart’s overture to The Magic Flute (1790) concisely encapsulates his habits with sonata-form construction and keeps returning to the contrapuntal textures that increasingly fascinated him. The result is a brief and potent curtain-raiser, prefaced by three famous solemn chords and then discharging its impulsive energy in fugal sections. There was nothing perfunctory about Phillips’s approach to this celebrated overture which received a full measure of commitment.

Before the orchestra proceeded to its account of Borodin’s Symphony No. 1 (written 1862 - 66), we were treated to an authoritative account of Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5, with the young Japanese pianist, Keigo Mukawa, as the soloist. It is the finest of Saint-Saëns’s five concertos for the instrument, each of them a distinct musical world unto itself.

Two YouTube recordings capture Mukawa performing the concerto in important competition performances (2019 and 2021) in what feels like a signature work for him. The hallmark of his approach was aptly described as ‘extreme refinement, subtlety and sensitivity’. Though his once-unaffected stage presence has changed somewhat (he wore an ill-fitting black smock, and crouched noticeably over the keyboard), the personality in the music is – delectably - the same.

If his interpretation of the work (which is fantasia-like, especially in its first movement) has shifted, it is toward a more forthright reading, making for incandescent passages of virtuosity. But the sense of reserve is still present, and his mastery of the composer’s jeu perlé (fast, light ribbons of sound) - makes of the central movement, built around a Nubian love-song, a point of profound equilibrium. The often-discrete orchestral contribution was also finely played and directed.

Mukawa chose to repay his quite justified standing ovation with Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor, returning us to an intimate, delicate world of outstanding tonal beauty. Regrettably, there was no other opportunity to hear him on this trip to Durban.

Borodin’s first symphony, also his first extended work, is not a well-known concert piece, but it certainly deserves to be less obscure than it is. From the outset, it unfolds a multiplicity of ideas with rhythmic vigour and melodic turns of phrase that are characteristic of his better-known creations. Influences from ‘abroad’ are detectable, but the music plays with them and builds them into larger tone pictures.

Phillips favoured a bold, extrovert reading, and succeeded in balancing resplendent passages from the brass with the rest of the hard-working orchestra. His Scherzo (2nd movement) was tautly laid down by the strings, and the lyric Andante suitably spacious. The woodwind soloists were entirely convincing, apart from some indifferent solos on the cor anglais; the woodwinds as a section, though, sometimes lack good internal tuning. And there were atmospheric moments, often layered in perspective in the orchestration, which passed without too much consideration.

That did not dispel the impetus of the work which is at times truly thrilling, and the audience signalled its satisfaction at this scarce opportunity to hear Russian music of the 1860s in all its colourful detail. - David Smith

The second – and final – concert of the Early Spring Season will take place on Thursday September 4, 2025, in the Playhouse Opera, at 19h00. Tickets available through Quicket.

To link to the KZNPO’s website, click on the advert at the top right-hand of this page.

INGRID LOTTER SMITH FOR ST CLEMENTS

Well-known calligraphy artist Ingrid Lotter Smith will be appearing in the Mondays at 6 Programme at St Clements on September 1 at 18h00.

Table Bookings Essential: RSVP ST Clements 062 582 0980 (Please note this new St Clem number)

In this day and age when many people have become more comfortable using a phone or laptop keyboard than writing by hand, small wonder there is growing interest in the art/craft of calligraphy. Durban creative, artist, art teacher, erstwhile gallery owner, Ingrid Lotter Smith has been doing — and teaching — calligraphy for nearly four decades.

Friends of the late Pieter Scholtz invite audiences to come and be inspired, enlightened, entertained and to see why calligraphy matters.

“Writing is for communication. It uses visible signs to enable us to pass on and receive messages to and from people who are separated from one another by time, space or both,” says Ingrid Lotter Smith.

“Many scripts have been evolved at different times and in different places and a major factor in all these scripts is the surface onto which it was written and the writing instrument used.”

Ingrid will take audiences on a fascinating journey through the history of letterforms and their reflection of societal values. A journey of discovery, which will show us how the shapes of our alphabet have been influenced by the cultures and technologies of the past.

Cherished Durban art luminary, Ingrid Lotter Smith, has spent nearly four decades honing her skills in calligraphy. “I started calligraphy as a hobby and became fascinated by it. The more I read, learned, practiced, and taught calligraphy, the more I found I loved the history and the technical skill involved.”

The allure of calligraphy, she says, extends beyond mere aesthetics. The term calligraphy comes from the Greek and, quite literally, means beautiful writing. It is an art form that has evolved for more than two thousand years, from long before it was ever considered an art form. It is the origin of all written forms.

Ingrid Lotter Smith has often collaborated with her husband, John Smith, the distinguished South African artist, intertwining her calligraphy with his watercolour paintings to evoke mood and meaning beyond the written word.

She says she has noted a growing interest in, and demand for, calligraphy. “I think people are becoming tired of the fonts we get on computers and are returning to the beauty of the handmade. It is also an amazing hobby that is in reach of most people.”

Ingrid is the former owner of Artisan Contemporary Gallery, which was a lively creative, cultural and "community" art space at the top of Florida Road.

When the donation box is passed around, a minimum of R50 per person is suggested.

Weather permitting, the programme will take place outdoors.

Bookings limited to diners in support of St Clements restaurant and staff.

Be there in time to open your tab, order at the counter and settle in before the scheduled 18h00 start.

Please cancel if you book then can’t make it. (The venue is often at capacity.)

R1,930 was collected via the donation box at last month's (first) Monday at Six, the tribute evening for Pieter Scholtz. It will go towards the Pieter Scholtz legacy stage that Steve Clements is planning as a permanent fixture at St Clements.

St Clements is situated at 191 Musgrave Road in Durban. Mondays @ Six run between 18h00 and 19h00

FRESHLY GROUND FOR DURBAN STREET FOOD FESTIVAL 2025

Making a rare trip to Durban, Freshly Ground is the headline act at the carefully-curated eclectic live music line up at the Durban Street Food Festival - a weekend long celebration of Durban’s diverse culinary heritage; craft and music to be hosted at the Pavilion Shopping Centre on September 5, 6 and 7.

Known for their distinctive fusion of African and contemporary styles, Freshly Ground introduces a new lead vocalist, Mbali Makhoba, who brings her powerful, soulful voice and dynamic stage presence to the group, marking a significant evolution in the band's celebrated journey.

Freshy Ground headline a full and varied weekend music line up, hosted by Dave Guselli, which complements the 70 or so food stalls offering a myriad delicious and unusual dining and drinking options. There will be crafts and collectables too.

The venue is The Pavilion Shopping Centre, Entrance 5 – Banking Hall Parking

Friday from 17h00, Saturday & Sunday from 11h00 till late

Tickets: Available now on fixr.co

Hashtags: #DurbanStreetFoodFestival #DSFF2025 #FoodieHeaven #StreetFoodCulture #DurbanEvents #ThePavilionShoppingCentre #ComeHungryLeaveHappy #LoveTheBeatPayForPlay #LTBPTF

5TH EDITION OF THE DFMI BUSINESS LAB

 

Durban FilmMart Institute (DFMI) has selected 32 participants from 14 African countries and the diaspora to participate in the 5th edition of the DFMI Business Lab.

DFMI Business Lab, supported by the DW Akademie, is an 18-week online business skills development programme aimed at nurturing and empowering producers with the necessary skills to grow their careers and effectively engage in a global market. The lab will focus on modules such as Financial Management, Fundraising, Coproduction, Business Management, IP & Entertainment Law and PR and Distribution.

The DFMI Business Lab provides career development skills and capacity building of business management   for filmmakers on the continent” says DFMI director, Magdalene Reddy, “the knowledge gained through this programme enables filmmakers to create more sustainable companies and develop greater confidence in their ability to present themselves as independent film producers.”

The programme will run from August 2025 to January 2026 with simultaneous French interpretation.

https://www.durbanfilmmart.com

 

** Selected Participants and Projects

After reviewing 309 applications from across the continent, the successful participants were selected:

From South Africa, these include: Ara Bhabha; Danielle Retief; Dennis Ngango; Nomcebo Ngema and Shaeera Kalla.

 

List:

Amina Arafa (Egypt); Aminata Sarr (Senegal); Amisha Mukasa (Uganda); Arnold Setohou (Bénin); Atir Berriah (Maroc); Bakoro Koné (Côte d'Ivoire); Banke Bakare (Nigeria); Cecimercy Wanza (Kenya); Dagmawe Tamirat Demissie (Ethiopia); Dancurf Obwogi (Kenya); Dja Damien Dally (Côte d'Ivoire); Hassan Zaroug (Sudan); Khumiso Rebabedi (Botswana); Marlène Alamissi (Bénin); Michelle Umobong (Nigeria); Mkaiwawi M. Mwakaba (Kenya); Mnena Akpera (Nigeria); Mohau Mannathoko (Botswana); Nalunga Lukodda (Uganda); N'doko Delphine Victorine Yao (Côte d'Ivoire); Nedem Malm (Togo); Neo Kebiditswe (Botswana); Ogochukwu Umeadi (Nigeria); Salma El Sharnouby (Egypt); Samuel Kizito (Uganda); Usaku Robinson Wammanda  (Nigeria); Yuhi Amuli (Rwanda)

 

Visit the website to find out more (https://durbanfilmmart.co.za)

The programme is presented in partnership with DW Akademie and supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Durban FilmMart Institute receives principal funding from the Durban Film Office and the eThekwini Municipality.

https://www.durbanfilmmart.com

The Durban FilmMart Institute (DFMI) with support from the DW Akademie, is proud to open the call for participants for the next edition

Apply here (https://durbanfilmmart.co.za/future-mentors-application-information/)

Join the community

Discover the power of networking on Filmmart.Africa! Connect with film professionals across the continent and explore exciting collaborations.

Sign up here (https://filmmart.africa)

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mailto:info@durbanfilmmart.com

https://www.durbanfilmmart.com

 

Durban FilmMart Institute is a premier business hub for African film industry professionals and products. Its mission is to provide appropriate and effective programmes and services to promote, support and facilitate investment in the African film industries.

For more information on the Durban FilmMart Institute – the annual market and year-round programmes, visit: https://www.durbanfilmmart.co.za/

27th JOMBA! OPENING NIGHT

 

(Dr Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts; Sharlene Versfeld & Dr Lliane Loots)

I encourage audiences to support these bodies that speak of and challenge trauma. – (Review by Dr Verne Munsamy)

Each year as August approaches, I wait with great anticipation for the arrival of JOMBA! One of the largest and longest running contemporary dance festivals in the world.

 

This year, the festival turns 27, a remarkable achievement for a dance festival which in its history has had over 80 countries participate in and dance on the stages of the festival.

 

The Centre for Creative Arts, housed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, proudly hosts JOMBA! and four other international festivals each year. For me, the opening night is held dear to my heart as I eagerly await the opening night's speech by festival director, Dr Lliane Loots. Her words provoke action in artists to create work that challenges and diverts social norms that are destructive in nature.

 

This year's theme of crossing borders is poetically described by Dr Loots. Her words resonate truth as she reminds us that the arts are responsible for archiving culture and history. This year a special award was bestowed upon Sharlene Versfeld for her unwavering support of the festival and the arts as a publicist. A well-deserved recognition indeed. She is recognized for her archival of the festival through photographs, press releases and interviews and all the wonderful things that she has done to support the arts.

 

The opening act of the festival was created by ex-Durbanite, choreographer and dancer Sbonagaliso Ndaba. Many will remember her as the choreographer for Phenduka Dance Company in the early 2000s. She has since relocated to Cape Town and has continued her journey as an artist that pushes the boundaries of the human body through dance. Her piece, entitled In Search Of Our Humanity, was simply 'wow'.

 

Through the complex and riveting choreography, Ndaba captures the themes of slavery, climate change and several other political issues both past and present. The choreographer managed to create work that fully explored the limits of the human body by pushing it to create dramatic lifts, soaring leaps and stunning synchronization.

 

The 12 dancers displayed remarkable African Contemporary technique which whisked me back on a nostalgic reminder of the days of Phenduka. The section with the table, which saw dancers leap over, jump on and fly across was breathtaking. The music selection was intense and dramatic and complimented the choreography. I loved every moment on stage and am confident that this was the best way to open this year's festival.

 

I look forward to the next two weeks of the festival and encourage readers to bear witness to these extraordinary dance works from South Africa, Spain, Ivory Coast, Uganda, France and Germany. I encourage audiences to support these bodies that speak of and challenge trauma. - Dr Verne Rowin Munsamy

 

JOMBA! PICK OF THE PLATFORM AWARDS

 

(Above: Tammy Ballantyne, Mfundiseni Ndwalane, Jabu Siphika and Hannah Ma. Pic Val Adamson)

 

Digital and Live Open Horizons Pick of the Platform Awards

Dance-makers Brenda “BreeH” Cele (Pietermaritzburg), and Mfundiseni Ndwalane (Durban) were awarded the JOMBA! Pick of the Platform for their works in the Digital Open Horizons and Live Open Horizons, respectively this week.

Digital Open Horizons is a curated platform of screen dance films, and the Live Open Horizons platform is an opportunity for choreographers to showcase their works in a professionally-supported stage presentation at the Festival. These are both presented as JOMBA!’s commitment to developing and growing contemporary dance in Durban and South Africa.

This year’s Digital Open Horizons jury included Pak Ndjamena, a multifaceted artist based in Maputo (Mozambique); Ivan Barros, an award-winning Mozambican photographer and video-maker; Clare Craighead, a Drama and Performance Studies lecturer at DUT, a dance writer and academic; and Thobile Maphanga, a Durban-based dancer, dance writer and researcher interested in the histories and narratives of Black women.

Brenda “BreeH” Cele was awarded the JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons Pick of the Platform for her striking dance film, Simunye cited by the jury as a compelling docu-dance film which impressed them with its powerful integration of dance, science, storytelling and activism. Tackling the very urgent issue of climate change through a South African lens, it presents a strong conceptual and technical vision which is informative and emotionally resonant.

This year's JOMBA! Live Open Horizons offered two solo performances and two group works. Jury members were Clare Craighead, (non-voting Chair), Jabu Siphika, dancer and choreographer and a member of FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY, Tammy Ballantyne, dance writer and journalist, and Hannah Ma, choreographer, and founder of hannahmadance.

Speaking at the awards after the performances, Tammy Ballantyne said, “The diversity in themes and content was pleasing, with a good mix of choreographic styles and production elements. We used various criteria to assist in selecting the winner, such as artistic and emotional impact; choreographic innovation; performance quality and relevance and resonance.”

The overall winner of the platform was Sisukaphi?, choreographed by Mfundiseni Ndwalane. Drawing on his own compositions and choreography during his research for his MA at UKZN, the work explores storytelling elements alongside a fusion of African popular music and traditional elements such as amaZulu dance. The jury praised Ndwalane for his cohesive vision in bringing together live music and singing, projections and scenic elements which brought depth to the theme and choreography. “His invitation to the audience to consider one's ancestry as a collective was a powerful visual and aural moment of using the body as a memory tool. His ensemble was focused, polished and committed.”

The jury commended Thandeka Maqebula on the solo The Silent Voice, performed by Anele Makanya. They commented on Makanya's powerful stage presence and strong physicality. There is opportunity for Maqebula to develop her choreographic voice which displays impressive conviction and focus.

“Tegan Peacock's Burst my Bubble employed humour and a sense of whimsy, particularly with her choice of music. Her use of brightly-coloured balloons as metaphors for hopes and dreams that are sometimes popped, shows a unique sense of intuitive timing and even clowning.”

“The International School of Performing Arts (ISPA) students shone in a large ensemble work titled Echoes of Greatness, choreographed by Gabriel Youngstar. The work explored rhythmical and often challenging choreography with elements of ritual. Some excellent partnering and strong lifts showed solid technique and use of trust exercises. The group was beautifully costumed and well-lit.”

“It is heartening to see the range of work being offered by young dance makers and a real engagement with physical storytelling on many levels,” said Ballantyne on behalf of the jury.

JOMBA! continues until Sunday September 7, 2025, with a range of performances, workshops and talks. For more information and to see the full programme, go to: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

Tickets R85 and R65 (concessions and groups). Booking via WebTickets.

 

KZN PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS AT THE PAVILION

In celebration of Women’s Month, The Pavilion Shopping Centre is proud to present two complimentary live performances on August 31, 2025, by the acclaimed KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Complimentary Concert will take place at 11h00 and again at 13h00 at The Cinema Level, Fountain Court at the Pavilion Shopping Centre. Entrance is free.

Following the overwhelming response to their previous performances at The Pavilion for Mother’s Day in May and during the festive season in December, the Orchestra, under the baton of popular resident conductor Chad Hendricks, returns with a specially-curated programme.

Audiences can look forward to a vibrant selection of orchestral favourites, light classical pieces, familiar arias, and well-loved show tunes. The performances will feature special guest appearances from UKZN Opera School and the multi-talented students from the International School of Performing Arts.

BASA REPOSITIONS SUPPORTING GRANTS PROGRAMME

 

(Beth Arendse, BASA CEO: pic supplied)

 

Deadline for Applications: September 10 2025

 

Business and Arts South Africa repositions supporting grants programme to drive innovation in the creative sector.

Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is excited to announce a fresh repositioning of its flagship Supporting Grants Programme, signalling a new way of supporting the creative sector and strengthening partnerships between the business and arts. This update aims to spark innovation, increase impact, and build sustainable, high-value collaborations.

For more than 25 years, the Supporting Grants Programme has been at the heart of BASA’s work, providing a platform for partnerships that deliver both cultural and business value. It has helped create hundreds of collaborations that have enriched South Africa’s creative landscape while bringing measurable benefits to business partners. With this new approach, BASA is rethinking how partnerships can work in a fast-changing world — where adaptability, shared value, and long-term sustainability are key.

The revised programme shifts focus away from funding completed projects and instead supports early-stage development and new ideas— helping to fund proof-of-concept and prototype projects that can be tested, refined and prepared to grow. By providing a safe space to experiment, BASA aims to help promising ideas attract investment, access markets, and gain visibility.

Beth Arendse, BASA CEO, says: “This repositioning is an important next step to keep the Supporting Grants Programme relevant, responsive and catalytic. We’re creating a space for experimentation where bold ideas can grow and encourage stronger partnerships between artists, entrepreneurs and business. Innovation is a survival skill in today’s economy. We want to see creatives and corporates co-create solutions, open new markets and build ventures that last.”

The programme responds to calls from the sector for catalytic, early-stage support that allows creative practitioners to take calculated risks and test their ideas in partnerships with businesses, before scaling up. BASA will prioritise applications that show real collaboration between creatives and businesses — whether small local enterprises or large corporates — and that address urgent economic, social or environmental challenges. The focus is on projects with the potential to become viable, investable ventures with clear and measurable impact.

To ensure broader impact, BASA will introduce a learning framework to capture and share insights from supported projects. This will help successful projects inform wider sector strategies, encourage replication and strengthen the creative ecosystem.

Applications for the Supporting Grants Programme close on September 10 2025. For full details, eligibility criteria and guidelines, visit www.basa.co.za. An online webinar on BASA Supporting Grants 2.0 will take place on September 2, 2025. For enquiries, contact sipho@basa.co.za.

  

About Supporting Grants 2.0

BASA’s Supporting Grants 2.0 are more than funding — they are seed investments in creativity. These catalytic micro-grants support short-term pilots designed to demonstrate how innovation at the intersection of culture and commerce can create tangible value for both business and society. They are about testing bold ideas, proving their potential, and paving the way for greater investment and sector-wide transformation.

The Supporting Grants 2.0 are made possible through the generous support of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC).

SPANISH FOCUS @JOMBA!

 

(Black by Oulouy - Cadiz en Danza)

 

Blackness and Floods – Choreographies of Survival in the Spanish Focus at the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

The JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience presented by University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts which takes place in Durban from August 26 to Septembers 7 is partnering with the Embassy of Spain (South Africa) to showcase two unique contemporary Spanish dance offerings that celebrate the cultural connection between Spain and South/Africa: one an important work around Blackness, and the other a shared lived experience of the devastation of floods in Valencia, Spain and Durban, SA. These are part of the bigger festival programme on offer.

The much-anticipated award-wining solo Black from Spanish and Ivory Coast dance-maker, and founder and curator of the festival Oyofe dedicated to street dances. Oulouy will be seen for the first time on the African continent. Black is a reflection on the violence and emancipation of Blackness in today’s world. Oulouy hints at recent history such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the murder of George Floyd to rethink the Black African body in the Western world. Black is a dance narrated through street dance styles of the African continent and its diaspora in the Spain, such as Coupé-Décalé, Ndomboló, Afrohouse or Krump.

(Above: FLOOD -  dancer Zinhle Nzama photo - Siseko Duba)

The fruition of a longer 2025 partnership between JOMBA! and Valencia-based Taiat Dance Company. In an extraordinary collaboration with Durban dancer Zinhle Nzama, and Valencia dancer Lara Misó, choreographers Meritxell Barberá and Inma García, have created a solo/duet around the shared experience of two cities (Durban and Valencia) surviving floods. Titled FLOOD, this solo/duet dance work, born of the coincidence of these shared climate tragedies, adopts a poetic documentary style to explore the experiences of two dancers who suffered these catastrophes in their respective cities. FLOOD offers a choreographic approach that seeks to raise awareness of the urgency of acting on climate change and its devastating consequences.

Curator of JOMBA! Lliane Loots contextualizes this important work: “In April 2022, an unprecedented storm hit the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In less than 24 hours, around 400 litres per square meters of rain fell, a torrent unleashed by a subtropical cyclone that emerged a short distance from the coast. Durban and its surroundings became the epicentre of a catastrophe that left an indelible mark: 448 lives lost, 43 people missing and some 40,000 people left homeless.”

“These floods, together with the DANA storm that recently hit Valencia in Spain, gave impetus to this dance work that adopts a poetic documentary style to explore the experiences of two dancers who suffered these catastrophes in their cities.”

FLOOD becomes a tribute to the victims, a cry against bitterness and a wake-up call to the world. A choreographic approach that seeks to raise awareness of the urgency of acting on climate change and its devastating consequences.

Elena Moreno González-Páramo, Counsellor Embassy of Spain to South Africa, says: “We believe JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience is the best place to showcase these wonderful artistic pieces that are able to both celebrate diversity between Spain and South Africa, and also raise awareness on our common issues and experiences. We are thrilled to have this collaboration in place, for the short (and hopefully long) term.”

Both works will feature on Friday August 29 and Saturday August 30 at 19h00 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. After the Saturday performance Curator Lliane Loots hosts a JOMBA! TALKS DANCE with Oulouy and Barbara Diaz Rios, dance teacher and choreographic assistant for Taiat Dansa on stage.

Barbara Diaz Rios, will conduct a technique class and share some of the repertoire of FLOOD on August 28 from 16h00 to 17h30 and Oulouy presents a workshop that is a deep dive into the expressive power of movement as language, identity, and connection where participants can step into a high-energy journey across some of the most vibrant street dance styles from the African continent and its diaspora. (August 30 - 10h00 to 11h30).

Venue for workshops is the Dance Studio at Drama and Performance Studies (UKZN – Howard College Campus) These workshops are offered free of charge to participants, but booking is essential as places are limited. The workshops are only open to dancers 16 years and older.

Email Thobile Maphanga on 2024jomba@gmail.com to book a place at least two days in advance of the workshop.

For more information and to see the full programme, go to: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

Tickets are R85 and R65 (concessions and groups) or R390 – one off FULL festival pass to see everything. Booking via WebTickets.