As the Festival approaches its 50th anniversary, the call has opened for artists across all performing and visual art disciplines to apply for the 2024 National Arts Festival Fringe.  The National Arts Festival’s Fringe programme is a catalyst for new work and the discovery of new voices in South Africa’s performing arts sector. It’s also where audiences turn when looking for fun shows, comedy and music at the Festival, or to see older works reimagined. 

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The process of applying to bring a show to the Fringe is fully online and there is no selection process. The only qualifying factor is the number of available and suitable venues to accommodate productions, as assessed by the Festival’s technical team. Artists and production companies from anywhere in the world can participate but must make all their own arrangements to travel, fund and market the work. There is a registration fee of R 1 000 (payable when the Festival accepts the work). Applications can be made on the National Arts Festival’s website www.nationalartsfestival.co.za and the deadline for all applications is 12 January 2024.  Aside from the opportunity to network and enjoy the rest of the programme, staging work at the NAF Fringe also exposes artists to the possibility of winning a Standard Bank Ovation Award, a mark of recognition which helps audiences and theatre scouts spot works that stand out.

Many Standard Bank Ovation Award winning shows travel on to other Festivals and theatres. The 2022 Gold Ovation winning show Île (by Sophie Joans) went on to enjoy a hugely successful season at the Edinburgh Festival in 2023. Makhanda’s own Kwantu Choir has won multiple Standard Bank Ovations and is making a name for itself both internationally and nationally, having formed an integral part of Msaki’s Standard Bank Young Artist productions at NAF in 2023. Another Eastern Cape performer, the illusionist Brendon Peel, is currently touring globally and was featured on Britain’s Got Talent as a direct result of his National Arts Festival show.

Says Artistic Director Rucera Seethal “The NAF Fringe is like a big laboratory; it brings established and emerging artists, many different voices and perspectives and lots of rich and diverse work together to mingle through and enjoy. Out of this comes an extraordinary result – many artists are emboldened to market their work further after good reviews, others go back to the drawing board to rethink a show in response to audience reception, some works are spotted and get booked for months ahead and others burn quietly to emerge at a later stage. It’s a space that everyone understands to be playful and experimental – so artists can come to the Fringe to do just that – play, perform and maybe crack a magic formula,” 

The Festival will take place in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape from 20-30 June 2024. Visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za for more. Follow the Festival’s social media on:

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