Pushing boundaries, both geographical and conceptual, is a strong theme at the Festival this year. For the first time Grahamstown and the National Arts Festival will host the first World Fringe Alliance get-together.
Pushing boundaries, both geographical and conceptual, is a strong theme at the Festival this year. For the first time Grahamstown and the National Arts Festival will host the first World Fringe Alliance get-together.
Formed last year and chaired by National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester, this Alliance is a bid to foster inter-country exchanges with productions on the Fringe programme; to jointly market Fringe Festivals and generate interest in the arts from global sponsors. “We were blown away by the support and encouragement from the eight-country members”, said Lankester.
“All of the members have been invited to attend our 2012 Festival and we’re hoping to welcome them all in June. Between us, the eight member Festivals (Brighton, Prague, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York, Perth, Adelaide and Grahamstown) have an audience of 1.5 million.
By hosting this gathering we’re hoping to use the alliance to promote Grahamstown and South Africa’s artists on a global platform.” At the Main programme's core is the cutting-edge work of the 2012 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners, who continue to challenge and explore new directions as they establish their artistic voices. They will present a varied and exciting programme of premieres.
On the theatre stage is Princess Zinzi Mhlongo with her show Trapped, which travels to Austria after its world premiere in Grahamstown.
Bailey Snyman’s presents a dance play – Moffie – inspired by Andre Carl van der Merwe’s eponymous novel.
Soprano Kelebogile Boikanyo performs as the soloist in the Gala Concert, as well as in her own soiree in the Rhodes Chapel.
Mikhael Subotzky takes audiences on a multi-media journey behind the lens in his work entitled Retinal Shift.
Pianist Afrika Mkhize forms part of the immensely popular Jazz section of the Festival programme, and promises not to disappoint.
Another exciting aspect of this year’s Festival programme is the launch of the French/South African season in Grahamstown, staged with the support of the French Institute in South Africa, the Embassy of France and the South African Department of Arts and Culture.
The launch sees several productions premiering, across several genres. Ster City, an exciting multi-disciplinary production by French theatre-maker Jean-Paul Delore, is the featured production in the Theatre programme.
The Arena continues to provide challenging content to bridge the gap between the Main and the Fringe programmes. The Fringe programme serves as an accurate barometer of the state of the arts from all angles, and continues to push boundaries on every level, as a platform for debate on current issues.
The Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012 with a suitably powerful line-up of local and international musicians and teachers, brought here not only to perform for the audiences of the National Arts Festival, but also to inspire the 350 young South African jazz players gathered in Grahamstown.
