The National Arts Festival is the World Cup of Grahamstown, quipped national Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, during his speech at the opening ceremony of The 40th annual National Arts Festival held at the 1820 Settlers Monument on Wednesday.
The National Arts Festival is the World Cup of Grahamstown, quipped national Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, during his speech at the opening ceremony of The 40th annual National Arts Festival held at the 1820 Settlers Monument on Wednesday.
Facts and figures caught the crowd’s attention and Mthethwa stunned the crowd when he revealed that 200 000 visitors were expected to attend this year's Festival. He said that the Festival is a significant driver of the economy of the City of Grahamstown and the Eastern Cape Province, contributing an estimated R350m to its economy.
The economic impact study report, from which the Minister's statistics were taken, was undertaken by a team from the Rhodes University Economics Department, led by Professor Geoff Antrobus and Jen Snowball.
It also found that visitors from outside the Province spend an additional R27.3m in the Province before and after they attend the event, and that the Festival contributes an estimated R90m to the GDP of the City of Grahamstown through direct and indirect spend, job creation and tourism activity.
Addressing a strong crowd at a packed Guy Butler Theatre, Mthethwa said, "This town is not an economy hub, it does not have factories or mines, but its people pride themselves on their talent, passion for arts and culture".
Giving his keynote address marking the opening of the Festival, Mthethwa focused on the economic spin-off of the 11-day event. He said the event creates 25 000 job opportunities every year, during the June and July break.
The Festival’s Chief Executive Officer, Tony Lankaster, revealed that 500 journalists from around the world have converged in Grahamstown to report on the event.
Commenting on Lankaster’s Tony's statement, Mthethwa said, "The last time I heard of such a large number of journalists converging on our country was during the 2010 FIFA World cup. This Arts Festival is the FIFA world cup of Grahamstown."
Mthethwa's comments were met with rapturous applause from the crowd.
Mthethwa also revealed that this year's event will see 3 000 performances across 50 venues around the town.
The Grahamstown Festival is the second largest in the world after the Edinburgh Fringe of Scotland.
