The finalists of the 2022 BASA Awards, in partnership with Hollard, have been announced. Find out more about the partnerships that were there to give us a LightsUp moment in 2021. One winner will be chosen in each category, with the winners being announced on 29 August 2022. Watch the livestream at www.basa.co.za
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AWARD FINALISTS
University of London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and HEXlappies
HEXlappies (De Doorns)
Based in De Doorns in the Western Cape, HEXlappies is a group of women from the Hex River Valley who gather weekly to create while sharing stories and discussing issues they face, such as violence and teen pregnancies. The project has expanded to developing real skills, opportunities and a platform for women in the area to give voice to some of their challenges.
The project was co-founded by South African artist Erica Lüttich, Katharine Low and Katrina Mokwena, the leader of the women’s group (HexLappies) in Stofland. Low and Lüttich co-facilitated the practice and Mokwena, Low and Lüttich co-designed the group’s research and creative focus in response to the desires and interests of the women attending the workshops.
Although previously prevented from travelling by the pandemic, in 2022, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) was able to visit the project in person and Dr Katharine Low spent 10 intensive training days with the HEXlappies, creating poetry, dance, performance and posters to affirm their vision. Currently we have Lauren Low (not any relation to Katharine) a master’s student from RCSSD who is deepening the creative process with puppet making, mapmaking and facilitation workshops.
HEXlappies has established partnerships and collaborations with multiple partners, including the Burns Unit at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town; collaborating with Stitches for Survival on a public ‘mass craftivism’ artwork to raise awareness at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021; and collaborating with Play Africa on a human rights-focused project at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. The women created 20 separate panels that were exhibited as part of a larger project at Constitution Hill in March 2021 at the Human Rights Festival.
As gender-based violence continues to escalate in South Africa, the HEXlappies women have identified the project as a key space for their wellbeing and own sense of growth; a space they do not necessarily have at home. Through their work as community leaders and in the presentation and display of their artefacts, the HEXlappies women have noted improved self-efficacy, self-advocacy, increased confidence, better mental health and wellbeing.
Urban Space Management and MojaNation
Newtown Improvement District Revitalization Project
In the 1970s and 80s, Newtown in Johannesburg became a hub of creativity, attracting actors, musicians and artists. It was one of the few places in the city where people could come together across racial lines, whether at the Market Theatre or nearby iconic jazz clubs, and it quickly became an area strongly associated with music. The area was later designated as the Newtown Cultural Precinct, with further investment in the arts such as the creation of the Museum Africa. The area soon fell into decay, however, and a partnership between Urban Space Management and MojaNation aimed to visually revitalise the Newtown area to attract new visitors, both local and international, and restore Newtown to its rightful position as an attraction. The scope of the project ranged from repainting dilapidated infrastructure, such as the façade of Museum Africa, to restoring the iconic Heads of Africa sculptures to creating and curating brand-new public artwork.
In May and June 2021, local artists were commissioned to create striking pieces that brought the area’s history to life for the passing visitor. The final roster of artists contributing to this project included Dbongz Mahlati, Tshepo Kekae, Tetteh Cudjoe, Americo Guambe and James Delaney. MojaNation acted as middleman between Urban Space Management and the artists, creating open lines of communication to facilitate the project’s successful roll-out. Over the course of the project, Urban Space Management liaised with key Newtown stakeholders, including Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown Junction and Museum Africa, to secure the chosen locations for the artworks and provide logistical support.
The public artworks were created to last for many years, continuing to evoke Newtown’s musical legacy in the future. Public art helps to raise the profile of the area that it is placed in, especially when there is a unifying theme connecting artworks that gives visitors a narrative thread to follow. It is also a boon to the tour industry, as the many street art and graffiti tours that have sprung up in recent years attest. This project can be used as a case study to show the impact public art can have on an area.
Viva con Agua and Baz-Art
Nina Manzi
Building on an existing relationship that has spanned several years, urban art NPO Baz-Art and Viva con Agua brought together their expertise and experience to develop a project that brought a sense of dignity, health and community to people experiencing homelessness in the city.
The Nina Manzi concept is a mobile facility that provides safe, clean and dignified access to water, sanitation and hygiene. Together, the two organisations set out to understand the challenges of accessing basic human needs, such as bathing, which people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Cape Town face, and help identify solutions.
Research activities in 2021 entailed fieldwork that was operationalised through interviews as well as through creative, non-verbal media workshops with people who were experiencing homelessness in Cape Town. The Nina Manzi project was publicised through an extensive marketing campaign to raise funds and disseminate information and generate understanding among the homeless and housed communities of Cape Town.
CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT AWARD FINALISTS
Nando’s and Spier Arts Trust, Bridges for Music Academy and Clout/SA
Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival 2021
The Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival Fired Up by Nando’s is an annual celebration of creative expression held at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. The three-day event is packed with workshops, talks and industry pitch sessions for design artists. The Sounds of Freedom Music Festival is held on the last day. Nando’s has sponsored Basha Uhuru since 2017 across three key creative elements:
A visual arts partnership with Spier Art Trust, which runs a development programme and has grown Nando’s collection of artworks by emerging local artists to more than 24 500 pieces.
A design partnership in the form of the Nando’s Hot Young Design (HYD) talent search facilitated by Clout/SA. Winning work is listed on The Portal to Africa, Nando’s online marketplace where Nando’s interior designers can browse and order pieces.
A music partnership with Bridges For Music, an NPO that aims to connect the global music industry and its resources to at-risk communities in South Africa. A three-day boot camp event, called BridgeFire, empowered 10 young up-and-coming musicians through targeted mentorship. Eight of the 10 artists performed at the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival – two of them on the main stage.
In 2021, after the Covid hiatus of 2020, the Basha Uhuru Creative Uprising Fired Up by Nando’s was presented as a hybrid event that brought creatives and audiences back together at Constitution Hill and delivered inspiration, networking, creative collaborations and hands-on creativity.
Distell and Mud and Fire Parables
Body of Evidence: A Stop GBV&F Interdisciplinary Hybrid Campaign
Body of Evidence was launched to highlight the scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa while supporting local artists during Covid and providing them with a platform to express their thoughts and feelings about GBV.
Created by Mud and Fire Parables, co-curated by Mandla Mbothwe and Qondiswa James, the programme was rolled out in 2020/21 and featured interdisciplinary work that included Distell alumni (artists who have previously collaborated with Distell), artist statements, and creative expression in response to GBV and femicide in our country. Three influencers provided two-minute video statements responding to GBV and femicide in South Africa. Body of Evidence was also featured at (Un)Infecting the City, a public art event in Cape Town.
The project provided job opportunities for 80 interdisciplinary artists around the country between October 2020 through to 2021, and helped ease the burden of the Covid-19 regulations that had led to unemployment among artists. More than 80 artists benefited from the campaign, both in monetary value and in strengthening their artistic craft. The partnership continues to engage with society on various levels and through various community structures.
FLOW Communications and Drama for Life
Drama for Life Creative Research Hub (Projects)
The partnership between Drama for Life and FLOW Communications began in 2008. In 2021, Drama for Life hosted its annual conference and festival with the theme, Performing Democracy: The Fire, The Fight, The Fiction?
The conference and festival was part of the broader Building Democracy Through Theatre In The Post-Democracy project, a four-year-long research-exchange partnership between Drama for Life , the University of Witwatersrand’s School of Arts and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU’s) Department of Arts and Media Studies..
The conference, shaped in response to the global pandemic, created a platform for the professional and artistic development of the Drama for Life and NTNU communities. Alongside the sharing of research findings and creative project work from across Africa, central Asia, North America and Europe, the event hosted more than 200 guests and presenters, including students, academics, artists, teachers and members of the general public.
FLOW Communications provided all design work for the conference and festival marketing material (posters, brochures, logo, etc.). It created a website-based template that allowed all material and information to be posted online for easy access and navigation. Critically, the website can be re-used for future conferences.
See www.dramaforlife.co.za/events/the-drama-for-life-annual-conference-and-festival-during-covid-19
FIRST-TIME SPONSOR AWARD FINALISTS
Oxford Parks and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
Bag Factory Pop-Up Project Space at Oxford Parks
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oxford Parks precinct in Dunkeld, Johannesburg, was under construction. They reached out to the Bag Factory about their intended commitment to integrate arts and culture into the fabric of the precinct.
The Bag Factory initially acted as a sounding board and offered ideas to Oxford Parks. As 2020 drew to a close, Oxford Parks offered the Bag Factory a retail space, rent free, as part of their socio-economic development contribution. For the duration of 2021, the Bag Factory used this space as a pop-up project space, staging several exhibitions with other creative partners.
Art was brought directly into the heart of Oxford Parks and the Bag Factory’s visibility and reach were increased through having an off-site exhibition space in a prominent Rosebank/Dunkeld location to coincide with their 30th anniversary. The value that Oxford Parks brought to the Bag Factory was significant and it also demonstrated the immense public and social value of being an arts sponsor.
Jaguar South Africa and #GiveHerACrown
#GiveHerACrown
Launched on Women’s Day in 2020, #GiveHerACrown is a women’s empowerment platform that uses the power of storytelling and the arts to raise awareness and funds for the fight against gender-based violence. Jaguar South Africa joined the initiative as brand partner in the lead-up to 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in November 2020. Jaguar and #GiveHerACrown share an ethos of empowering women and celebrating their fearless spirits and creativity.
Creative expression can be used to communicate our individual and collective values, and this campaign fosters creativity in a positive way, helping to give voice to new ideas. The 2020 Crown Collection was a series of bespoke fine art crowns, dedicated to inspiring South Africa’s women, successfully raising funding for an innovative schools’ education campaign that uses the arts to empower learners on issues of gender equality.
The theme for the 2021 campaign was #YouGotThePower – harnessing the arts and creativity to connect, inspire and empower women throughout South Africa. Six artists were empowered to create a unique digital art piece as part of The Crown Collection. These were sold online to raise money for the Crown Collection Bursary Fund for young female creatives.
The Drama Factory and Unlikely Productions
The Unlikely Secret Agent
The Drama Factory partnered with Erika Marais (Unlikely Productions) to provide a space for the development of The Unlikely Secret Agent during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did they provide a space and manage the strict Covid protocols of the time, but they assisted in marketing the work.
The Unlikely Secret Agent is the story of Eleanor Kasrils, late wife of ANC stalwart Ronnie Kasrils, and her contribution to the struggle for freedom. The important and powerful story was brought to life by five actors. Paul du Toit’s writing and direction earned him a Fleur Du Cap Award for Best Director. The production was nominated for eight Fleur Du Cap awards in total. To embark on such a big project in the midst of a pandemic was ambitious but also necessary – audiences were left feeling that we just needed to dig deep, as Eleanor did. The staging of the show at The Drama Factory also put a small independent theatre on the map in terms of its importance as a production house.
INNOVATION AWARD FINALISTS
Cooperative Innovations and Baz-Art
The Museum of Plastic
The Museum of Plastic virtually showcases artworks developed in different media to educate and motivate the public to change their behaviour around the use and disposal of plastic. Together, Baz-Art and Cooperative Innovations, a British tech innovation company, supported by GreenPop and the British Council, successfully created and curated The Museum of Plastic.
Through Baz-Art’s creative direction, real-world artworks were merged into the virtual platform. Six South African mural artists – Cheeky Observer, Ellena Lourens, Dirty Native, Silas Ras Moetse, Wayne BKS and Mernette Swartz – participated in the project, painting real-world plastic-pollution-themed murals in Cape Town. Baz-Art also trained these artists to sculpt and paint for virtual reality to create unique, immersive experiences.
The sustainability-themed murals that focused on plastic were translated into digital versions by the artists and then transformed into interactive installations in multiple online museum wings, each curated around the individual artists’ creative visions. Digital masters from Cooperative Innovations lifted elements of these artworks to create the digital experiences in the museum.
The Museum of Plastic was so effective that it was included at the 2021 COP26 in Glasgow, exposing South African artists to an international audience.
BMW Group South Africa and Southern Guild
RICH magazine
With a partnership that began in May 2018, BMW Group South Africa and Southern Guild gallery share mutual values of design excellence, innovation and creative courage. This is expressed through a programme of exhibitions that the gallery holds, and comprises four major activations a year that pair an artist or exhibition with a specific luxury-class vehicle being launched in the local market.
In 2021, a print and multimedia project was produced to promote fashion designer Rich Mnisi’s first solo exhibition of art and furniture, titled Nyoka, at Southern Guild Gallery in Cape Town. Its main component was a once-off, limited-edition magazine published by Southern Guild and the 750 copies were distributed to BMW clients and dealerships, to Southern Guild collectors, as well as at galleries and exhibitions internationally. It went on sale directly to the public through the gallery. The entire publication was also made available free online on Southern Guild’s website. Four short videos highlighting aspects of the exhibition and the magazine were produced to promote the project on social media.
Simply titled RICH, the magazine consisted of 132 pages of specially commissioned photography, writing and illustrations by many of South Africa’s leading Black creatives including Trevor Stuurman, Bradley Bdlovu, Kholeka Kumalo, Khensani Mohlatlole and Thando Ndabezitha. RICH used the traditional format of a glossy fashion magazine in an innovative way: to showcase the artworks of Nyoka, document their making and highlight Mnisi’s unique creative vision. In an audacious acknowledgement of his ‘influencer’ status, Mnisi was both the editor and subject.
RICH is a vibrant vehicle for storytelling, an authentic engagement with Mnisi’s Tsonga heritage and a catalyst for creative production (commissioning original content by photographers, writers, stylists and other creatives). Notably, the project led to a longer-term collaboration between Mnisi and BMW, who consulted with the designer to help the brand engage with a younger, Black market. This fed into BMW’s evolution towards more conscious consumerism and forward-looking, progressive mode of electro-mobility.
See RICH magazine
Standard Bank and National Arts Festival
The National Arts Festival Fringe – Bank of Dreams
Standard Bank has invested in artists’ dreams for more than 40 years and has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of artists. As part of their long-term partnership with the National Arts Festival, Standard Bank has recognised excellence on the Festival’s Fringe platform for more than 12 years through the Standard Bank Ovation Awards. The Fringe Festival is a platform for independent artists across South Africa to stage their works for national and international audiences who fund their own productions and, as such, take on all the risk for bringing works to the festival. The project, Bank of Dreams, was a natural extension of the Ovation Awards, supporting artists who were severely impacted by the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
A total of 125 Fringe productions shared R500,000 raised by South Africans who supported the arts and artists by expressing their dreams for the arts. For every dream and message of support invested in the Bank of Dreams, Standard Bank made a financial investment back to artists at the end of the National Arts Festival 2021.
Media partnerships with Metro FM, Heart FM, Gagasi FM and YFM significantly grew the presence of the Bank of Dreams.
LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP AWARD FINALISTS
Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
Cassirer Welz Award
The Cassirer Welz Award was originally founded in partnership with Bag Factory Artists’ Studios as the Reinhold Cassirer Award in 2011 by Nadine Gordimer, one of South Africa’s most celebrated authors and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to celebrate the life and work of her late husband, Reinhold Cassirer, a renowned collector and dealer.
After Gordimer’s passing in 2014, Strauss & Co. pledged its support to the award – a partnership that has continued to this day. After Stephan Welz passed away in 2015, the Reinhold Cassirer Award was renamed the Cassirer Welz Award, a fitting tribute to the two men who had contributed so much to the South African art world.
The award acknowledges excellence in emerging artists under the age of 35 who are not represented by a commercial gallery by providing an opportunity to showcase their talents to a broader audience. The winner receives a 10-week residency at the Bag Factory, culminating in a solo exhibition of newly created work. Through the exchange of ideas, mentorship and skills development, the artist has an opportunity for substantial creative and professional growth.
In 2021, the Bag Factory and Strauss & Co. celebrated 10 years of the Cassirer Welz Award and eight years of official collaboration between the two partners through a series of exhibitions and events at the Oxford Parks precinct in Dunkeld, Johannesburg.
Nando’s and Spier Arts Trust
Nando’s Creative Exchange
Creativity is an integral part of the Nando’s brand, and the Nando’s Creative Exchange was established in 2011 to recognise emerging, Southern African fine artists who demonstrate exceptional ability. The programme offers selected visual artists exhibition and mentorship opportunities, as well as sponsorship for art materials. All of this is aimed at developing artists’ professional practice.
The programme is part of the larger Nando’s Art Initiative, a partnership between Nando’s and Spier Arts Trust that was first formed in 2001. In the two decades of working together, Nando’s art collection has grown to include more than 24 500 pieces, making Nando’s the largest private collector of contemporary Southern African art in the world and helping to support hundreds of artists in their careers. They run four programmes together and support more than 150 artists, with artworks showcased in more than 1 200 Nando’s restaurants worldwide.
As part of the programme, an experienced mentor provides curatorial and professional presentation advice to artists while they are working towards the exhibition to enable future independence in approaching galleries professionally and to plan successful art exhibitions.
Nando’s partnership with Spier Arts Trust’s experts ensures their time, money and effort invested in supporting the visual arts makes the most significant possible impact.
TotalEnergies and Sibikwa Arts Centre
Total Sibikwa Play Competition; Sibikwa Arts Academy and Inclusive Development, Education and Advocacy Project
The partnership between the Sibikwa Arts Centre and TotalEnergies dates back to 1997 with the Total Sibikwa Play Competition, which developed creative capacities and industries in peri-urban and rural areas. They went on to fund The Sibikwa Arts Academy (SAA), which offers learners between six and 24 years of age classes in dance, drama, drumming, marimba, recorder, visual arts and reading. It also provides experiential training in leadership, as well as life and interpersonal skills.
In 2011, TotalEnergies sponsored a Mercedes Sprinter and a Toyota Double Cab with trailer for Sibikwa and began participating in Total’s Action Programme, designed to give their employees the time and means to get involved in citizenship initiatives. TotalEnergies has also supported Sibikwa’s Inclusive Development, Education and Advocacy (IDEA) programme, which was established to address the significant physical, social and cognitive or learning difficulties that many young people from marginalised and disadvantaged communities face, helping to address the impact these challenges have on their abilities to develop, learn and gain employment.
The legacy of the partnership between TotalEnergies and Sibikwa Arts Centre is in a shared philosophy around the value of community, culture and education, centred on an understanding that real and meaningful change requires long-term engagements that encourage and enable the participation of all members of society.
SMME AWARD FINALISTS
Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers & Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
Cassirer Welz Award
The Cassirer Welz Award was originally founded in partnership with Bag Factory Artists’ Studios as the Reinhold Cassirer Award in 2011 by Nadine Gordimer, one of South Africa’s most celebrated authors and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to celebrate the life and work of her late husband, Reinhold Cassirer, a renowned collector and dealer.
After Gordimer’s passing in 2014, Strauss & Co. pledged its support to the award – a partnership that has continued to this day. After Stephan Welz passed away in 2015, the Reinhold Cassirer Award was renamed the Cassirer Welz Award, a fitting tribute to the two men who had contributed so much to the South African art world.
The award acknowledges excellence in emerging artists under the age of 35 who are not represented by a commercial gallery by providing an opportunity to showcase their talents to a broader audience. The winner receives a 10-week residency at the Bag Factory, culminating in a solo exhibition of newly created work. Through the exchange of ideas, mentorship and skills development, the artist has an opportunity for substantial creative and professional growth.
In 2021, the Bag Factory and Strauss & Co. celebrated 10 years of the Cassirer Welz Award and eight years of official collaboration between the two partners through a series of exhibitions and events at the Oxford Parks precinct in Dunkeld, Johannesburg.
Urban Space Management and MojaNation
Newtown Improvement District Revitalization Project
In the 1970s and 80s, Newtown in Johannesburg became a hub of creativity, attracting actors, musicians and artists. It was one of the few places in the city where people could come together across racial lines, whether at the Market Theatre or nearby iconic jazz clubs, and it quickly became an area strongly associated with music. The area was later designated as the Newtown Cultural Precinct, with further investment in the arts such as the creation of the Museum Africa. The area soon fell into decay, however, and a partnership between Urban Space Management and MojaNation aimed to visually revitalise the Newtown area to attract new visitors, both local and international, and restore Newtown to its rightful position as an attraction. The scope of the project ranged from repainting dilapidated infrastructure, such as the façade of Museum Africa, to restoring the iconic Heads of Africa sculptures to creating and curating brand-new public artwork.
In May and June 2021, local artists were commissioned to create striking pieces that brought the area’s history to life for the passing visitor. The final roster of artists contributing to this project included Dbongz Mahlati, Tshepo Kekae, Tetteh Cudjoe, Americo Guambe and James Delaney. MojaNation acted as middleman between Urban Space Management and the artists, creating open lines of communication to facilitate the project’s successful roll-out. Over the course of the project, Urban Space Management liaised with key Newtown stakeholders, including Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown Junction and Museum Africa, to secure the chosen locations for the artworks and provide logistical support.
The public artworks were created to last for many years, continuing to evoke Newtown’s musical legacy in the future. Public art helps to raise the profile of the area that it is placed in, especially when there is a unifying theme connecting artworks that gives visitors a narrative thread to follow. It is also a boon to the tour industry, as the many street art and graffiti tours that have sprung up in recent years attest. This project can be used as a case study to show the impact public art can have on an area.
See https://urbanspace.org.za/managed-precincts/newtown-improvement-district/
SPLITBEAM (Gearhouse Splitbeam) and The National School of the Arts
The Dome@NSA – Outdoor Venue
The partnership between the National School of the Arts (NSA) and Gearhouse Splitbeam was formed in February 2021 when the NSA was looking for a safe venue where their learners could perform at reduced risk during the Covid pandemic. An outdoor stage was the dream solution because, as evidence showed at the time, humans are safest when outdoors during a pandemic. In early 2021, Covid regulations were still gazetted at 250 people outdoors with all physical distancing measures in place. After an appeal to Gearhouse Splitbeam, a partnership made a non-permanent outdoor dome available to the NSA for 10 months (which was extended to 13 months). What should have cost between R100 000 and R160 000 per night, cost the NSA just R20 000 thanks to Gearhouse Splitbeam’s in-kind sponsorship. A closing grant from RMB was used to fund the rental.
Amidst the fear and gloom of Covid, a glimmer of hope was gently fanned. The Dome was a symbol of hope and continuation and it charged the school with a sense of gratitude and relief.
The partnership also showed the NSA how an outdoor dome could be a perfect permanent NSA theatre, which the school is currently fundraising for.
See artschool.co.za
SPONSORSHIP IN-KIND AWARD FINALISTS
Oxford Parks and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
Bag Factory Pop-Up Project Space at Oxford Parks
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oxford Parks precinct in Dunkeld, Johannesburg, was under construction. They reached out to the Bag Factory about their intended commitment to integrate arts and culture into the fabric of the precinct.
The Bag Factory initially acted as a sounding board and offered ideas to Oxford Parks. As 2020 drew to a close, Oxford Parks offered the Bag Factory a retail space, rent free, as part of their socio-economic development contribution. For the duration of 2021, the Bag Factory used this space as a pop-up project space, staging several exhibitions with other creative partners.
Art was brought directly into the heart of Oxford Parks and the Bag Factory’s visibility and reach were increased through having an off-site exhibition space in a prominent Rosebank/Dunkeld location to coincide with their 30th anniversary. The value that Oxford Parks brought to the Bag Factory was significant and it also demonstrated the immense public and social value of being an arts sponsor.
Independent Media and Finance for Hippies
Finance for Hippies Podcast
In a partnership formed in March 2021, iol.co.za worked with the Finance for Hippies Podcast to offer a platform for everyday financial conversation and knowledge growth. There is a deep-rooted lack of basic financial education in South Africa and the podcast was structured in an easily digestible format to be highly accessible and enjoyable. Multimedia Artist Mr MediaX, using his rapper alias TeethSwag, and financial industry professional Thabeng Sehume, under his rapper alias of Ndarkie aka Don Salamanca, were the hosts.
The podcast was published to a potential audience of about 38 million people who visit the IOL website, leading to a significant 200% audience growth for the podcast for the duration of the partnership. Finance and budgeting workshops aimed at emerging visual artists also took place over the course of two weeks.
IOL was also able to monetize the podcast to leverage sponsors and partners and grow their multimedia offering.
Listen to an episode here
SPLITBEAM (Gearhouse Splitbeam) and The National School of the Arts
The Dome@NSA – Outdoor Venue
The partnership between the National School of the Arts (NSA) and Gearhouse Splitbeam was formed in February 2021 when the NSA was looking for a safe venue where their learners could perform at reduced risk during the Covid pandemic. An outdoor stage was the dream solution because, as evidence showed at the time, humans are safest when outdoors during a pandemic. In early 2021, Covid regulations were still gazetted at 250 people outdoors with all physical distancing measures in place. After an appeal to Gearhouse Splitbeam, a partnership made a non-permanent outdoor dome available to the NSA for 10 months (which was extended to 13 months). What should have cost between R100 000 and R160 000 per night, cost the NSA just R20 000 thanks to Gearhouse Splitbeam’s in-kind sponsorship. A closing grant from RMB was used to fund the rental.
Amidst the fear and gloom of Covid, a glimmer of hope was gently fanned. The Dome was a symbol of hope and continuation and it charged the school with a sense of gratitude and relief.
The partnership also showed the NSA how an outdoor dome could be a perfect permanent NSA theatre, which the school is currently fundraising for.
See artschool.co.za
BEYOND BORDERS AWARD
An outright winner will be announced in this category.
For more information about the 25th BASA Awards, partnered by Hollard, please visit https://basa.co.za/awards/
