There is a strong Grahamstown showing in this year's nominations for the Business Arts South Africa (BASA) awards which recognise excellence in sponsorship of the arts.
There is a strong Grahamstown showing in this year's nominations for the Business Arts South Africa (BASA) awards which recognise excellence in sponsorship of the arts.
Grahamstown business, African Music Instruments, is nominated in the 'Small Business' category for their sponsorship of the Access Music Project (AMP!), a local organisation that takes music and music teaching to the city's under-resourced schools;
the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) is up for the 'First Time Sponsor' Award for their support of the Puku Story Festival, the annual story festival that takes place in Grahamstown to promote literacy and a love of reading in children and Rand Merchant Bank are up for three awards – 'Strategic Project' Award, the 'International Sponsorship' Award and the 'Increasing Access to the Arts' Award – for their sponsorship of "War Horse" the puppets for which have, of course, visited and Grahamstown and which were created by Festival stalwarts, the Handspring Puppet Company.
The partnership between AMI and AMP! has been a particularly successful one. Director of the AMP!, Gareth Walwyn, says, "When AMP began in 2011, we were given an old set of instruments which needed serious repairs to become usable.
AMI came forward very generously in providing the professional expertise, tools, machinery and material to make them usable.
AMP! simply would not have been able to begin without AMI's generosity and guidance.
Added to this, through several interactions each year, AMI continues to support us in so many ways that we feel they are a part of our ongoing growth.
In turn, we are delighted to have brought in some massive orders with our NLC (National Lotteries Council) funding.
This is specifically the sort of partnership that BASA encourages – a small arts organisation is able to feed back to a local industry in a variety of ways, be they positive exposure, corporate development or business itself".
Nearly sixty finalists are in the running and the ceremony takes place in Johannesburg on September 21 when the winners of eleven categories, along with several special awards, will be announced.
Organisers believe that the number of finalists and entries reflect an increasing recognition by businesses of all sizes, of the role of mutually beneficial, equitable and sustainable business-arts partnerships.
“I think the Awards are tremendously valuable for the arts,” says Dali Tambo, a member of the judging panel. “Without the private sector, you really don’t have the kind of breadth of artistic abilities that we see in South Africa.
If anything, I think one of BASA’s main roles is to encourage businesses to think about the arts and how they can integrate them to their benefit and that of the public.”
“The biggest thing about this year’s entrants is that they made our job so much harder,” adds Kojo Baffoe, “Over the past few years, there have been categories where the out-and-out winner is quite clear but this year, in certain categories, it was very hard to differentiate between each entrant.”
Here's the full list of finalists.
11. Arts and the Environment Award, supported by Nedbank
– Hemporium for The Labia Theatre’s Digital Gold Crowdfunding Campaign
– First National Bank for the FNB BankCity Sculpture: The Sun Stands Still Part II
– MayFord Seeds for the In Tune With Nature: The Dutch Evening, Last Night of the Proms, and Symphony Choir Concerts The following special awards are selected at the discretion of the BASA Board:
– Skills Support and Mentor of the Year Award – This award recognises the long-term contribution of a volunteer to the development, professionalism, and sustainability of arts organisations through mentorship, workshop facilitation, and/or board service. Only individuals from the BASA Education Programme or the BASA BoardBank are eligible for this Award.
– Diplomacy in the Arts – Given in recognition of Foreign Missions which contribute to the development and preservation of the arts in South Africa as well as the continued prioritisation of cultural diplomacy between South Africa and the international community.
– Art Champion Award – An Award given to an individual for outstanding achievement in the encouragement of business support for the arts.
– Chairman’s Premier Award – This Award is made at the discretion of the Chairman of Business and Arts South Africa and recognises sustained and extraordinary commitment to the arts in South Africa. About BASA (NPC):
Business and Arts South Africa is an internationally recognised development agency which incorporates the arts into, and contributes to, corporates’ commercial success.
With a suite of integrated programmes, Business and Arts South Africa encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts in order to grow SHARED VALUE.
Business and Arts South Africa was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Department of Arts and Culture and the business sector, as a public/private partnership.
Artslink.co.za Account: Lakin Morgan-Baatjies Business and Arts South Africa lakin@basa.co.za 011 447 2295 www.basa.co.za Web site: http://www.basa.co.za
