It was a celebratory first weekend at the National Arts Festival with the welcome news that South Africans were no longer required to wear masks. Traders on the Village Green reported a robust start to the Festival as rainy weather cleared and the sun came out for the weekend. Not even Stage 4 load shedding could dampen the mood at the Festival hub, the Monument, as generators kept the lights on for over 900 exuberant fans who packed the Guy Butler Theatre for a once-off Ringo Madlingozi concert on Saturday 25 June. Previously capped at 50% capacity, the show sold an additional 400 tickets in less than 24 hours when venue capacity restrictions were lifted.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by National Arts Festival (@nationalartsfestival)

2021 Standard Bank Visual Artist, Buhlebezwe Siwani, opened her three exhibitions inspired by the artist’s deep relationship with the natural world and Standard Bank Young Artist for Performance Art, Gavin Krastin, opened his work 12 Labours; an insightful exploration of contemporary definitions of the heroic. Cara Stacey, the Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, performed her piece Transbordamento with esteemed Mozambican musician Matchume Zango. 

Other hit works included Bloke and His American Bantu, penned by Siphiwo Mahala and directed by Sello Maake kaNcube; the play studies the long-distance friendship of writers Langston Hughes and Bloke Modisani. Zip-Zap Circus’ Moya was a treat for families and audiences got to laugh without a mask with the return of the Very Big Comedy Show with a line-up that included Kagiso ‘KG’ Mokgadi, Stuart Taylor, Rob van Vuuren, Kate Pinchuck and more. 

Festival CEO, Monica Newton, said the Festival was very pleased with the initial turnout, “It was difficult to know what to expect after a two year hiatus, but it’s evident that arts lovers were ready to get back into theatres and galleries and the arts community couldn’t be more happy to be back on stage with a live audience. Everyone is feeling positive that the arts will thrive again.” Newton said it was too soon to share ticket numbers as they were constantly changing. 

Newton said that although load shedding was an unwelcome inconvenience, the Festival was able to mitigate the fallout through a combination of generators, emergency lighting and schedule juggling and thanked audiences for their understanding of the situation. 

The Festival has traditionally been a big revenue driver for tourism and hospitality in the region. Speaking at a NAF media brunch on Monday morning (27 June), CEO of Eastern Cape Tourism, Vuyani Dyamani, welcomed the live Festival back to the Eastern Cape. He said that the province had in fact seen growth in tourism of over a million visitors during 2020 but he hoped that these numbers would grow even further with the return of events that usually bring a collective 1 million visitors to the province. 

In Makhanda, accommodation was particularly scarce on the opening weekend and flights are at a premium, but audiences considering a last minute visit in the week ahead are also planning to drive or take a coach. 

A full programme lies ahead with anticipated shows including singer Amanda Black, the Eastern Cape Philharmonic and Cape Town Opera, Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance, Kristi-Leigh Gresse’s Purgatory – ‘A Working Title’ and Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre, Thando Doni performing his work Ngqawuse.  SBYA for Jazz, Vuma Levin, will also perform at the National Jazz Festival alongside a host of international jazz musicians. The weekend will also see more acrobatic circus acts from Urban Circus and captivating works from international artists Clara Delorme (Switzerland) and Criminal Tribes Act Extended (a work that forms part of the multinational collaborative Portals Next series).

The Fringe is packed with excellent shows across all genres including comedy, visual arts, music, theatre, dance and more; with Standard Bank Ovation Awards being handed to outstanding works that emerge from the Fringe. Artists will be on stage exercising their creative right to express their work and audiences will be celebrating their freedom and enjoyment as the National Arts Festival brings the arts home.

The National Arts Festival is on until 3 July 2022. The programme and ticket bookings are at nationalartsfestival.co.za