BASA Built on a Legacy of Women

We are living in a time when powerful women have reshaped the business landscape of South Africa’s creative economy. For Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), every day is Women’s Day. According to Head of Marketing and Communications, Savannah Feeke-Fortune, the organisation has been built on the shoulders of a long line of influential women, spanning…

Q&A with Mamela Nyamza

On paper, she is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed choreographer and arts activist. In motion, she is an arts rebel and revolutionary, committed to making dance a vehicle for conveying body politics on all social issues, rather than a simple means of entertainment. Mamela’s ultimate goal is to reach the most remote of South Africa’s areas, unearthing young, raw…

Launch of Debut Programme 2nd Edition

Following a hugely impactful first iteration of the Debut Programme, which was launched by the Honourable Minister Nkosinathi E. Mthethwa of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) in 2017, Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is calling for applications for the next round of the Programme. Says BASA CEO, Ashraf Johaardien: “Participants will be selected from…

BASA’s 67 grants for Mandela Day

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela spent 67 years fighting for social justice. In honour of his legacy Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is making 67 Artist Relief Grants for medical assistance available to creatives diagnosed with or hospitalised due to COVID-19. Founded in 1997, BASA is a connector catalyst for businesses and the arts, driving focused…

2021 – celebrating conscious

An open call for exhibition proposals The curator in ways is the imagination that frames the conversation, bringing different voices, distinct palettes into dialogue. As we have been so aware under lockdown,the capacity of the human imagination resides in the relation between things, between beings. We are diminished when we cannot make expressive contact with one another. The…

ACT Development Grants to focus on music

For its second grant cycle of 2020, the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) is looking for projects with a focus on music, encouraging applications for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary works that have music as a core component. Applications for Professional Development Programme grants will be accepted until 12 July 2020. ACT, South Africa’s independent arts funding…

Inclusive leadership through COVID-19

Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is responding to the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing changes to its plans and programmes during a time which has seen artists’ professions and livelihoods severely curtailed. This has included the granting of 122 Artist Relief Grants, aimed at assisting individual artists, freelance creatives and independent…

KKNK opens exhibitions to the world

The first Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) Virtual Gallery gives art enthusiasts from all over the world the opportunity to engage with the festival’s visual arts exhibitions, says festival artistic director Hugo Theart. The KKNK has built a reputation for its extraordinary visual arts exhibitions over two decades, and this year has encouraged them…

Nandos Image _by David_Krynauw_bench_nelpark_nandos

Nando’s searches for next Hot Young Designer

Undiscovered local design talent challenged to showcase their flair The third edition of Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search is under way, this year focused on a design element that has become strikingly relevant in the time of COVID-19 – restaurant waiting benches. Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search initiative opens doors for undiscovered young…

Discussions of the artistic divine

BASA member Same Mdluli places artistic expression firmly in the essential column What better way to pass the endless hours of confinement, than to speak to the current creative movers and shakers? Same Mdluli is an artist, art historian, and writer living in Johannesburg. She holds a PhD in History of Art, an MA in…

CREATIVES COPING WITH LOCKDOWN

At a time when physical proximity is not just dissuaded but essentially outlawed, people are reaching for their devices and digging deep into their artistic disciplines to stay connected with their audiences, and the world at large. South African artists are using the opportunities presented by social distancing to develop new kinds of content. How…

2019 BASA Special Awards Recipients

“The annual BASA Awards are a significant barometer of the success of mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships between business and the arts,” says Mandie van der Spuy, Deputy Chairperson of Business and Arts South Africa (BASA). Says BASA Head of Marketing, Savannah Feeke, “Partnered by Hollard, the Awards recognise business…

2020 Standard Bank Young Artists

The recipients of the 2020 Standard Bank Young Artist Awards have been announced. They are Jefferson Tshabalala (theatre), Lulu Prudence Mlangeni (dance), Sisonke Xonti (jazz), Nthato Mokgata (music) and Blessing Ngobeni (visual art). The National Arts Festival established the Young Artist Awards in 1981 to acknowledge emerging young South African

CURTAIN RISES ON THE NSA’S FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

An exciting and boundary-pushing programme of youth creativity will be in the spotlight when the National School of the Arts annual Festival of the Arts takes to the stages of the NSA and the Joburg Theatre. The diverse line-up, which is curated with high school learners in mind, includes performances, exhibitions, workshops and installations. Youth…