Celebrating lifetimes of creative consistency
‘It is important to strive towards the creation of a self-sustaining arts industry’
The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is South Africa’s premier independent arts funding and development agency. “It is important to strive towards the creation of a selfsustaining arts industry that does not need to rely solely on the support from other industries to survive,” ACT chief executive Marcus Desando said at The Maslow Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, at the ACT lifetime achievement awards.
Through five different programmes, ACT provides support for all expressions of arts and culture, including literature, music, visual art, theatre and dance. The support extends to festivals, community arts initiatives, arts management, arts education and arts administration.
Annually, for the past 20 years, ACT has hosted these awards that honour lifetime contributions to the arts and culture industry. The ACT Impact awards acknowledge the careers of young creatives who are promising in their will and ability — traditionally the finalists are under 30 years of age. ACT Awards project manager Jessica Glendinning said in this regard: “We at the Arts and Culture Trust feel that it is important to recognise the achievements of young creatives and their potential to uplift the industry.”
The recipient for the ACT Impact award is Byron Klassen, a dancer who has trained extensively in the Northern and Western Cape. In 2011 he was invited to New York to train with the Cedar Lake Dance Company and Peridance Contemporary Company. Upon returning to South Africa he created the production Dansmettieduiwels for The Dance Umbrella and participated in the Dance Umbrella Young Choreographers Residency. Since then, he has choreographed 10 productions for local and national festivals and regularly works alongside Alfred Hinkel to promote dance through creative teaching methodologies.
The development and acknowledgement of young talent is vital, as the stories of the lifetime achievement recipients reveal. During an interview with Bridget Masinga, who was host and facilitator of dialogue between recipients, Adrian Kohler spoke about his upbringing in the Eastern Cape, and the magic of cultivating imagination in children. It was a poignant reminder that artists are created through exposure to art. The mentality that art exists solely for the entertainment of the elite must be reversed, where artists create for art’s sake and not only as the market dictates. The creation of conscious art is essential, as conscious is the basis upon which our society is founded, and it relates to heritage — the memories that are left for the next generation.
Arts Advocacy
Creative Feel magazine sponsors the Arts Advocacy award; the recipient this year was Lindiwe Mabuza. Renowned for her work as a fierce advocate for the anti-apartheid movement and as the voice of the black woman through her collaborative poetry anthologies Malibongwe (1980) and One Never Knows: An Anthology of Black South African Women Writers in Exile (1989), she was born in 1939 to humble beginnings and has achieved international acclaim. She has served as a representative for the ANC and is the recipient of several international graduate degrees, an honorary professorship, as well as the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for her work with The Amandla Cultural Ensemble.
Dance
Adele Blank is a classically trained dancer who fell in love with contemporary dance quickly becoming one of South Africa’s leading contemporary dancers and choreographers. Blank was choreographer for the 8&1 dance company, one of the first companies to feature black dancers on the same platform as white dancers. She was elected the director of dance and choreography at Performing Arts Workshop, which later evolved into the Free Flight Dance Company — now a leading professional dance company in South Africa. She has mentored and trained generations of South African dancers as well as establishing the Adele Blank Free Flight Dance Trust, which enables dancers to train internationally. The Dance Award is made possible by JT International.
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts award is made possible by Nedbank Arts Affinity and was awarded to Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler of The Handspring Puppet Company. The pair met at Michaelis School of Fine Art in 1981. In an effort to educate and entertain school audiences, the two entrepreneurs conceptualised a travelling theatre roadshow for South African schools. After the State of Emergency was declared in 1985, Jones and Kohler began designing sets and puppets for children’s television and then went on to establish the non-profit company, The Handspring Trust. Through the trust they raised funding from international donors to make a multimedia science programme that was internationally lauded. Today they are best known for their 10-year collaboration with artiste extraordinary William Kentridge, on productions such as Woyzeck on the Highveld, Faustus in Africa, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Il Rituron d’Ulisse and Confessions of a Zeno. In 2011, The Handspring Puppet Company collaborated with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and produced the now internationally famous War Horse. Today, they continue their outreach and community development programmes throughout South Africa and are the recipients of numerous arts and theatre awards, as well as an honorary DLit from the University of Cape Town.
Music
Dorothy Masuku was already a top recording star by the tender age of 16, and left Zimbabwe to make it big in Johannesburg. During this period she wrote and performed the classic South African song Hamba Nontsokolo. From there, Masuku’s career continued to blossom as she was given many principal roles and solo performances accompanied by close-harmony groups and big bands. Her songs spoke about the turbulence and hardship that was township life in apartheid South Africa in the 1950s, and they resonated with a wide audience. Targeted by the apartheid forces, she fled South Africa and continued her political work through her music in Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the UK. After the release of Nelson Mandela, Masuku returned to Johannesburg and took up her professional singing career again. The Music Award is made possible by South African Music Rights Organisation.
Literature
James Matthews was born in 1929 in District Six, Cape Town. Despite the gruelling apartheid circumstances and lack of a formal education, Matthews managed to publish his first writing at the age of 17 in 1946. From there he went on to work as a journalist and is best known for his political writing, which explored the reality of the working class Cape Flats population under the Group Areas Act of apartheid. Through his writing, Matthews became a leading voice in the Black Consciousness movement and many of his works, including Cry Rage (co-authored by Gladys Thomas in 1972) were banned. In 1976, Matthews was arrested and denied a passport. After his release he was more determined than ever and started publishing house BLAC (Black Literature, Culture and Society) as well as the first black-owned art gallery. His writing has earned him international respect in Germany and in the US. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate as well as a governmental honour. Today, Matthews still lives in the Cape Flats where he actively promotes South African literature and engages in a variety of community projects. The Literature Award is made possible by the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation.
A legend in the making, Lira (Lerato Molapo) and her band entertained the audience at the awards with some of her most famous hits. Honoured guests, such as the Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Women Susan Shabangu, esteemed artists and art enthusiasts from all walks of life mingled and celebrated the lives of the ACT legends.