By Tanya Maswaure
Theatre and the arts can seem like a competitive space where individuals and companies are constantly fighting to be in the lead. This kind of competition does more harm than good, and ASSITEJ SA is pioneering in teaching the idea of collaboration in the arts. After engaging with the executive director of ASSITEJ SA, Yvette Hardie, we were left feeling optimistic about the future of the arts and all festivals to come.
ASSITEJ, which loosely translates to ‘International Association of Theater and Performing Arts for Children and Young People’, was established on 10 May 1965 by a global alliance of organisations and individuals involved in promoting theatre for children and young people. Present in over 100 countries, ASSITEJ has been part of a major international effort to facilitate spaces for children and young people in the world of theatre. ASSITEJ South Africa was formed in 2007 at the National Arts Festival, meaning this year, they are celebrating 17 years of attending and actively participating in the National Arts Festival. In 2012, they consolidated their relationship with the festival to create the Family Fair Programme and the Youth Fair Platform. Their executive director, Yvette Hardie, was more than eager to share their history with us and educate us on how pivotal their programme is. Her extensive experience and success in and out of ASSITEJ are impossible to ignore.
2024 is Hardie’s 40th National Arts Festival. “The first time I came here was when I was in standard eight…I would have been in grade ten, and I came with my best friend, and our two mums brought us. We just saw a huge amount of theatre! By that stage, I’d known from when I was four, I was going to be in the theatre. I was very certain about where I wanted to be, you know, but it was just the most extraordinary experience.” she said.
It is that early love for theatre and her experience in teaching that she found a deep passion for creating art for the youth. “I think one of the great joys of working in this area is that firstly you very often get to experience with an audience their first performance. In other words, this is an audience that has never seen theatre before… It’s incredibly rewarding to see that kind of first impression.” She also expressed that she has done a lot more learning as a teacher and in this role. “I believe that having exposure to the arts does give us a sense of well-being, even when the arts that we are watching is difficult, you know, even when it’s dealing with the most painful experiences, actually. And what it’s allowing us to do is to process something that, if we had to do it in real life or when we do it in real life, it’s incredibly difficult to do.”
With this incredibly positive mindset and pure love for the arts and education, ASSITEJ SA has seen increased development under Hardie’s guidance. In the early days, they would bring between 7 and 8 shows to the festival, and now, with both the Family Fair Programme and the Youth Programme, they have 5 and 10 shows respectively, showing across various venues at the National Arts Festival. “Family Fare programme is really the kind of theatre that you would go to with your parents. It is aimed at children aged 0 to 13 and their parents and families. So, it’s very much a family outing, and the Youth Fare program is more things that teenagers might want to go and see on their own or that students might want to go and see.” she explained.
Beyond creating content and platforms for the youth and children, ASSITEJ SA has been creating spaces for conversations that are pertinent in our community. “This year, for example, we are in a program with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, which is focusing on GBV essentially, and players that are dealing with topics related to violence against children and girls.” Hardie elaborated, “Those kinds of programs allow us to mentor artists or help artists to create relevant work. And another thing that we’ve done a lot of is supporting artists to think beyond just the show that they’re making to how they might engage with the audiences around that show.”
ASSITEJ SA has developed an extensive community and one that continues to grow and plant more seeds within the community. Their nationwide workshops have graduated a long list of future artists not only for children but for theatre as a whole. “What we see very often coming to the National Arts Festival is these members who have in the past been part of a workshop or been part of some sort of development program, or perhaps they brought their work to some other festival that we’ve hosted.
As a result, we’ve gotten to know them. We’ve got to give input in some way into what they are presenting. And now they are here at the National Arts Festival, and it’s a lovely opportunity for us.”
“The more we encourage people to see theatre, the more theatre they’re going to want to see. So, actually, it benefits all of us. As a collective, if we promote one another’s work and build one another’s audiences, we are, in turn, building our own audience. So, we try to create the spirit of generosity and collaboration within as it is, which I think ultimately benefits the industry as a whole.”
ASSITEJ SA believes every child and young person in our country deserves access to the arts, especially to live theatre, from the earliest possible age. By beginning to work from these roots ASSITEJ SA and Yvette Hardie have created a collaborative community whilst simultaneously attending to the youth of South Africa. Many may not see this task as a priority or as ‘real theatre’, but Hardie made it absolutely clear that this is where ‘real theatre’ begins.
As a final piece of advice, she stated, “You’ll never be as strong as you can be until you find out who you are. You know who you are in this space, what your particular strengths are, and what particular things you bring. That could be through the stories that you have to tell, it could be through your own personal stories that you want to bring onto the stage, it could be all the things that you’ve experienced that you feel strongly about… each of us as an artist has to discover what our superpower is.”
