Festival chief has seen it all
SNEAKING into a show and sitting quietly at the back while sipping on a beer is how National Arts Festival chief executive Tony Lankester likes to unwind after a busy day.
Celebrating 10 years as the driving force behind the festival, Lankester said his first few years’ experience at the festival were as a student, when the event appeared “much rougher”.
Armed with a full 24 years of festival experience, he said he had seen some of the best and worst shows out there.
“There are lots of ‘worst’ shows out there,” he said, diplomatically not mentioning any by name.
“I have seen some shows where I want to punch [someone] in the throat, but there is no such thing as a wasted live performance.”
His favourite experiences are live music performances “where you feel part of the show”.
“Over the years, I have seen some extraordinary shows – it’s depressing that I don’t get to see enough,” he said.
With 700 productions and about 2 000 performances, the 11-day event is a costly affair, with a budget of roughly R30-million.
Although the National Lottery usually invested a substantial amount, the past two years had been a concern after new regulations from the Department of Trade and Industry made it more complicated to apply for the necessary funds, Lankester said.
“Our grant for the 2016 festival only saw the cash reflected in our accounts in October last year, [and then] because of the poorly phrased regulations we can only apply one year later for the next grant.”
Fortunately, Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle had stepped in and assisted organisers with nearly R10-million.
“The festival has a huge economic impact for the province and [Grahamstown].
“Rhodes University did a study and found it brings in around R377million for the GDP [gross domestic product], with R94-million for the city alone, mainly as a direct result of the festival,” Lankester said.
Rubbishing rumours that the festival would be moving from Grahamstown, he said it would not be a viable option.
“I genuinely don’t believe the festival can be held anywhere else in South Africa. It is almost like driving into a bubble – the entire town is handed over to the festival.
“What we have here is unique.”
I don’t believe the festival can be held anywhere else in SA