NAF calls for submissions
WITH this year’s National Arts Festival ending little more than a month ago, the organisers are already looking for bold, courageous work that responds to the theme “Art and Disruption” for next year’s event.
Next year’s NAF, to be held from June 29 to July 9, is accepting proposals for work across all genres – theatre, dance, music, public art, installations, performance art and exhibitions – until September 2.
Fringe applications are later in the year, opening in October, and running until mid-January next year.
“We want to examine how the arts challenges mainstream ways of thinking, its responses to disruptions to the status quo, as well as how it disrupts conventional artistic boundaries and conventions to create new artistic territories,” incoming NAF executive producer Ashraf Johaardien said.
He will work closely with the Festival’s Artistic Committee throughout the selection process, and hopes artists “will do more than think outside-the-box” when responding to the theme, “Art and Disruption”.
“For me, this theme asks artists to throw away the box completely. Airbnb has revolutionised travel, Uber has reshaped transport, and Netflix has changed the way we digest television. I am hoping we see submissions that do the same for the arts.”
The call for applications extends beyond South Africa, while South African artists are encouraged to work collaboratively with artists and companies from the African continent and beyond.
Proposals that are not bound to the “Art and Disruption” theme are also welcome, as the organisers see the NAF as a prominent platform for innovation, experimentation, reflection and entertainment. The team curating the core of the Main Programme are violinist Samson Diamond (music); curator Ernestine White (visual arts); dramatist Warona Seane (theatre), and dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma (dance).
Jade Bowers, the 2016 Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre, who premiered her new work Scorched! at this year’s Festival, encouraged artists to enter.
“The National Arts Festival has always been a place where my work could find footing and gain traction.
“The Main Programme has, for me, been a benchmark for amazing work happening all over the country,” she said.
Neil Coppen, who presented Animal Farm to rave reviews at this year’s festival, agreed that the NAF offered artists good exposure.
“The National Arts Festival’s Main Programme offers an incredible opportunity for artists to get their work seen on a national and even international level,” Coppen said.
2016 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance Themba Mbuli also said the NAF was “a great platform to network and present your craft to the world”.
For more details visit the National Arts Festival website at: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za