Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

We outlined the different types of tickets you can buy on PAGE X but how do you ensure a seamless experience from your couch? STEP 1 – BROWSE Explore the Festival website to see WHAT’S ON. You can visit each day of the Festival on the Daily Programme to see what is on the line-up for that day. The daily line up will also include the Standard Bank Jazz events as well as the Creativate Digital Arts Festival. Check out the workshops and see what is on at the vFringe. We have a feeling you’ll be spoilt for choice! STEP…

Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) has partnered with Facemasks4Makana to launch a campaign urging Makana residents to help make 1000 masks for children aged two to six years old. This week they announced that at 665, they were close to their target. Learners in Makana are set to return to schools and other childcare spaces soon. These learners will require masks that fit them properly, as many already available masks are mostly suitable for adults. In Makhanda alone, there are about 78 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres that fall outside the parameters of the formal education system who therefore won’t receive…

The Festival will have various options for audiences wanting to enjoy the virtual experience – from a small taster to a complete feast. Tickets start from as little as R 25 each and a Full VNAF Festival Pass will cost you R600 for hundreds of hours of enjoyment. Buy any pass or ticket and you can watch whenever you want to until 16 July 2020. Here’s a guide to the different tickets and experiences. VNAF Daily Programme Pass Enter the world of amazing online by checking out the Daily Programme. The Daily Programme has been carefully curated by the Festival…

Does the BCG vaccine offer protection against Covid-19 coronavirus? BCG vaccines are given to babies in South Africa since 1973 to reduce mortality from TB. There is no evidence that they provide any protection against coronavirus. [Source: RighttoCare.org] How does the coronavirus affect people with HIV/Aids? We do not know exactly how people with HIV will respond to coronavirus as there have not been sufficient cases worldwide yet, but the South African medical fraternity believes that HIV infected people who are taking their ARVs and have a suppressed viral load and a good CD4 count should cope as well as…

By GARTH SAMPSON Makhanda has recorded its second-highest average temperature for June since 2000 at 20.8C, according to the South African Weather Service’s Garth Sampson. Port Elizabeth recorded one of the hottest Junes on record with an average maximum temperature of 22.5C – “an all-time record since recording started in 1950”. It surpassed the record of 22.1C, recorded in 1996. “This is almost a full two degrees higher than the average of 20.7C,” Sampson said. East London also recorded a record high average maximum temperature of 24.1C, which was also the highest since 1950. Other record average maximum temperatures were: Fort…

The Village Green, the buzzing fair at the heart of the National Arts Festival, will this year become an online treasure trove of crafted wares and savvy finds. “We decided that the show must go on this year, which has meant that the Festival has pivoted into the digital realm,” says Monica Newton, the CEO of the National Arts Festival. “It’s been a steep learning curve for all of us but we are determined to bring our audiences a very special experience and what would the Festival be without the Village Green to shop all your souvenirs – so we…

Language and the spoken word have been at the heart of National Arts Festival for decades. Starting with a celebration of English, and Shakespeare in particular, this has changed substantially as new voices joined the Festival, creating a diverse and multilingual celebration of the arts. The 2020 edition continues this journey and brings a multitude of languages to the programme. Shakespeare is still here, but in a slightly different form to what was first staged in 1966. Brett Bailey’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth, set in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, is Shakespeare on steroids. This production toured globally,…

When I moved to Makhanda in January this year and joined the National Arts Festival team, I was changing my life; changing jobs, creating a new career path, moving to a new city and taking on brand new challenges. As I entered the New Year, there was no way I could have predicted how the entire world, and not just my tiny life, would begin to change. By March 2020, it was clear that this was not any ordinary year. We were faced with a critical decision. Word was that theatres were going to close, events would be cancelled, travel…

The earlier you start having financial discussions with your children, the more likely it is that they will be successful when it comes to investing their own money. Here are five basic criteria for successful investing you may wish to discuss with your children. Saving is for the short term; investing is for the long term. Setting money aside every month for unexpected expenses is a good start. As the last few months have taught us, having an emergency fund is essential. This money should be kept in a way that it is easily accessible, like a savings account or a money market fund. However,…

To help you navigate the 2020 Virtual National Arts Festival, we brought TV presenter, Nontobeko Sibisi on board to produce a series of short video shows that will be shared daily on the Festival website and social media. VNAF Studio is a look at who and what is on at the Festival through a series of interviews, teasers, and clips of what you can expect at this year’s Festival. You may even see a couple of familiar faces in there as we speak to the residents of Makhanda. Nontobeko has been a resident of Makhanda (when she studied at Rhodes)…