After seven years at the helm, Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival Ismael Mohamed is taking a break – sort of.
After seven years at the helm, Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival Ismael Mohamed is taking a break – sort of.
Forged of steel, the Angel of the North is 20 metres tall.
It's an awe-inspiring sculpture by Antony Gormley that stands in Gateshead, England.
One of the first things Ismail Mohamed planned to do when he landed in England this week was stand in the embrace of its 54-metre wingspan.
Archives from the Gateshead Council, quoted in Wikipedia, record Gormley's description of the angel's significance as the transition from an industrial to an information age: "to signify that beneath the site of its construction, coal miners worked for two centuries… [and]to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears".
Mohamed's office in the basement of the Monument is not exactly a coalmine – but work for the Festival's creative team never stops.
And when Mohamed says he's taking a break for three months, it's not entirely true. As he pointed out in an interview with Grocott's Mail on the eve of his departure, "Creative networking never stops." His intention is to seek out creative inspiration and a fresh perspective. First stop in his sabbatical is France.
"I love French circus and French cuisine,and I will be arriving at festival time, which is great," he said. In Britain, he will be doing a writers residency at Live Theatre in Newcastle.
Against the backdrop of a festival of South African theatre being staged during his time there, he plans to rework a 2003 script, titled Where the Rainbow Falls.
"It's a two-hander about a fourth-generation South African couple and the complexities of their personal lives," he said.
"Family inheritance, cultural values and the land they live in all come into it." Mahomed says the script is a metaphor of the current dilemmas that South Africa finds itself in, the different conflicts, hoping that all will be well in the end.
"In the last five years things have really crumbled in SA. It is a warning but I still have hope that the country can still make it." he said. And will the arts make it?
"The problem with arts training in South Africa is that it excludes the business side," he said.
"Which is why we provide ample opportunities at Festival for participating artists to acquire those skills."
"Artists need to understand how to make art and yet function as professional artists." he said, emphasising the need for artists to familiarise themselves with training, workshops, and identifying business opportunities.
"On the creative side, you need to find people who share the same head space as you – and be patient."
The Festival is pleased with their first foray into an independent Fringe Festival – the Cape Town Fringe, which ended on 5 October.
"Grahamstown is a small town and the Festival has had a long life here, building up a strong reputation.
"With Cape Town, clear learning curves emerged. But I have every reason to believe that the Cape Town Fringe will succeed and grow bigger."
A public debate was sparked by criticism led by playwright Mike van Graan about selection criteria for the Cape Town Fringe.
Mohamed explained that while in Grahamstown there is no selection process for the Fringe, there was an internal selection process for the Cape Town event, based on artistic integrity, track record and race, gender and style balances.
"Debate is a healthy situation," Mohamed emphasised.
"It's taught us that we need to have greater dialogue around selection processes.
"Such debate stops us from becoming complacent. It's important that we embrace these challenges and questions – it keeps us on our toes."
He expressed gratitude to the Grahamstown community for supporting him in the "hot seat" and says a great festival line up is in place for next year – after the 40-year anniversary hype.
"There's some strong work that will outshine previous work and people are just engaging in a really exciting way." Mahomed said.
"Life begins after 40."
