National Arts Festival Awards Arts Community as Festival Closes

Artistic excellence was celebrated at the National Arts Festival this morning when the winners of the 2016 Standard Bank Ovation Awards were revealed at a ceremony which also honoured outgoing National Arts Festival Artistic Director, Ismail Mahomed.

Commenting on the impact of the awards, Mahomed said, “The Ovation Awards have earned a significant gravitas in the arts sector. They have become a barometer for audiences and visiting arts managements about productions that should not be missed. Artists at the Festival have been bold and have used their talents and skills to engage with burning issues in the most creative ways.”

 

STANDARD BANK OVATIONS WINNERS 2016

 

Standard Bank Standing Ovation Awards

The 2016 Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award was presented to the French Institute of South Africa and the Embassy of France for two decades of supporting visionary collaborations and exchanges between South African and French artists.

 

A Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award was also presented to Gary Gordon to honour his longstanding creative energy in South Africa’s cultural life and his enormously significant contributions to the vitality of the National Arts Festival’s Main, Fringe and Arena programmes.

 

A surprise Standing Ovation Award was presented to Ismail Mahomed who ends his tenure as Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival at the end of July. Speaking at the announcement, National Arts Festival CEO, Tony Lankester, recognised the nine-year commitment that Mahomed had made to the Festival, saying that he had “transformed the programme, filled it with richness and left a lasting legacy of excellence”.

 

The Adelaide Tambo Human Rights Award

The 2016 Adelaide Tambo Award for Human Rights is presented to Drama for Life, a global leader in the integrated approach to arts for social transformation and healing. Their performances and public engagement initiatives explore, serve and grow the role of arts for social change. At the 2016 National Arts Festival, Drama For Life presented Afri-Queer, a production that brought together artists from across South Africa’s borders to give a voice that humanises and gives dignity to those who continue to be oppressed. Drama for Life has also devised and executed the Festival’s 2016 Remix Laboratory programme.

 

Standard Bank Ovations Awards

The Standard Bank Ovations Awards are only given to new productions on the National Lottery Fringe. Once a production has been awarded an Ovation Award, the Company is invited to propose a new work to the following year’s Arena programme.

The National Lotteries Commission contributed R10 million to the Fringe this year, and assumed naming rights to the event. Says National Lotteries Commission's Thabang Mampane, “The National Lotteries Commission is honoured to have been the principal funder of the National Lottery Fringe and congratulates all the worthy Ovation winners. The NLC is proud to have been able to provide a platform for the talent that has been recognized at this year's National Arts Festival".

Of the more than 318 productions and performances submitted to the National Lottery Fringe this year, 232 were premiers and eligible for consideration for an Award. Says Standard Bank Ovations Awards Chairperson, Tracey Saunders, “The new productions on this year’s programme ranged from the staging of familiar South African texts to established international scripts, deeply personal monologues to epic family sagas and some ground-breaking new texts straddling the terrain in between.”

Saunders went on to say that despite economic constraints and the general feeling of malaise gripping the country, the National Lottery Fringe continues to excite and entertain and, more importantly, provoke conversations and ask questions of us as individuals and society.

Hazel Chimhandamba, Head of Group Sponsorships at Standard Bank commended all the 2016 winners, “Standard Bank applauds the efforts of all the individuals involved in the Festival and the organisations that contributed to its success. We are very proud to be associated with awarding those who represent South Africa’s artistic landscape.”

 

The full list of winners for 2016 are as follows:

 

COMPANY: Rust Co-Operative

PRODUCTION: Sillage

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Gold

 

COMPANY: Artscape

PRODUCTION: Ityala Lamawele

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

 

COMPANY: Alan Parker

PRODUCTION: Sacre for One

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Silver

 

COMPANY: Rust Co-Operative

PRODUCTION: The Graveyard

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

 

COMPANY: Artscape

PRODUCTION: Die Glas Ennie Draad

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

 

COMPANY: Explosiv Productions

PRODUCTION: Dangled

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

 

COMPANY: Kristin Hua NG-Yang

PRODUCTION: BIRD/FISH

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Matt Newman

PRODUCTION: Cock

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Sibikwa Arts Centre

PRODUCTION: Chapter 2 Section 9

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Theatre for Africa           

PRODUCTION: Ebola

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Uyabona Ke

PRODUCTION: Falling Off the Horn

GENRE: Physical Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Artscape

PRODUCTION: Henrietta with Love

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: One Shushu Day Artistry

PRODUCTION: Msaki and the Golden Circle

GENRE: Music

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Nombasa

PRODUCTION: Nombasa

GENRE: Music

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Hungry Minds Productions

PRODUCTION: Out of Bounds

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Lebo Leisa

PRODUCTION: Paleho

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY:Neo Motsatse

PRODUCTION: The Concert

GENRE: Music

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Bloom & Stone

PRODUCTION: Tease!

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Liquid Fusion  

PRODUCTION: Burn

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Moving into Dance Mophatong

PRODUCTION ‘...feathers...’

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Klara van Wyk

PRODUCTION: You Suck: and Other Inescapable Truths

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: UJ Arts & Culture (a Division of FADA)           

PRODUCTION: For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Lexi Meier

PRODUCTION: Fabric of the Universe         

GENRE: Performance Art

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: ExploSIV Productions

PRODUCTION: Thenx Presents Aza-Nya is Five-To

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Daneel van der Walt

PRODUCTION: Dani and the Lion

GENRE: Cabaret

AWARD: Ovation

 

COMPANY: Sibonele Dance Project

PRODUCTION: Abangawona (The Unseen)

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Merit

 

COMPANY:Umsindo Theatre Projects

PRODUCTION: 10 Days in a Shebeen           

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

 

COMPANY: Slindile Mthembu

PRODUCTION: Milked Voice              

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

 

COMPANY: Well Worn Theatre Co

PRODUCTION: Rat Race

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

 

COMPANY: Outreach Foundation (Hillbrow Theatre)

PRODUCTION: Isaro   

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

 

COMPANY: ExploSIV Productions

PRODUCTION: The Dark Ages

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Encore

 

STUDENT THEATRE AWARDS

Awards for the best works by students at the National Arts Festival were decided by a panel, convened by Jacqueline Dommisse, that included Lee-Ann van Rooi and Bertina Johnson.

 

Nominated for the Most Promising Playwright of the Year Award

  • Thembela Madliki of Rhodes University for Nyanga
  • The cast of Pharmakon by University of the Free State for a devised script

 

Winner of the Most Promising Playwright of the Year Award:

  • Namisa Mdlaloze & Pueng Stewart for University Of Cape Town’s Figs

 

Nominated for the Most Promising Director Award:

  • Sarah Nansubuga  Wits University for The Village
  • Dara Beth of University Of Cape Town for Figs

 

Winner of the Most Promising Director Award

  • Thembela Madliki of Rhodes University for Nyanga

 

Nominated for Best Production Award:

  • University Of Cape Town for Figs

 

Winner of Best Production Award:

  • Rhodes University for Nyanga

 

 

SHORT, SHARP STORIES COLLECTION

The annual anthology of Short, Sharp Stories was launched at the National Arts Festival this week. Die Laughing “stories of wit, satire and humour” – was edited by Joanne Hichens, who is also the curator of the competition. The authors included in the collection were announced and awarded at the National Arts Festival:

 

BEST STORY:

- This Could Get Messy by Greg Lazarus
 

RUNNERS-UP:

- This Is Not A Joke, Maureen by Gail Schimmel 

- Angel Heart by Kobus Moolman

 

EDITOR’S CHOICE

- Learning a New Language by Fred Khumalo

 

HIGHLY COMMENDED

- Jim Goes to Durban by Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay

 

- Number One With A Bullet by Christopher McMichael

 

- The Derby by Ofentse Ribane

 

- The Viewing Room by Diane Awerbuck
 

- The Seduction of Ozzie Stone by Stephen Symons

 

Earlier in the week, South African author, Lidudumalingani won the 2016 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story “Memories We Lost”, which featured in the 2015 Short, Sharp Stories anthology Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You.

The 2016 National Arts Festival closes today.

 

Please see a selection of images on https://nationalartsfestival.prezly.com/media 

Image: Streets of Freedom Parade in Grahamstown, 10 July 2016 - pic by Gcobisa Maholwana

ENDS

 

 

To stay in touch with the National Arts Festival use the hashtag #NAF16 and follow:

  • Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalartsfestival
  • Twitter: @artsfestival
  • Instagram: @nationalartsfestival

 

SPONSORS

The National Arts Festival is grateful to the National Lotteries Commission, the Department of Arts and Culture, Eastern Cape Provincial Government, M-Net and Standard Bank of South Africa.

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CONTACT

All media queries to:

Rabbit in a Hat Communications
Sascha Polkey
[email protected]
083 414 0552
021 300 0052

 

About National Arts Festival

The National Arts Festival is an important event on the South African cultural calendar and the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the African continent.

The 2017 National Arts Festival runs for 11 days from 29 June - 9 July and is held in the small university city of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, 130 km from Port Elizabeth.

The Festival consists of a Main and Fringe programme both administered by the National Arts Festival Office. The full programme comprises drama, dance, physical theatre, comedy, opera, music, jazz, visual art exhibitions, film, student theatre, street theatre, lectures, craft fair, workshops, tours (of the city and surrounding historic places) and a children’s arts festival.

The event has always been open to all regardless of race, colour, sex or creed. As no censorship or artistic restraint has ever been imposed on works presented in Grahamstown, the Festival served as an important forum for political and protest theatre during the height of the apartheid era, and it still offers an opportunity for experimentation across the arts spectrum. Its significance as a forum for new ideas and an indicator of future trends in the arts cannot be underestimated.

The National Arts Festival is grateful to the Department of Arts and Culture, Eastern Cape Provincial Government, M-Net and Standard Bank of South Africa.

Contact

National Arts Festival PO Box 304 Grahamstown, Ec 6140 South Africa

+27 (0) 46 603 1103

[email protected]

www.nationalartsfestival.co.za