The aim of the Department of Arts and Culture Communications (DAC) is to contribute to sustainable economic development and enhance job creation by preserving, protecting and developing South African arts, culture and heritage to sustain a socially cohesive and democratic nation. Together with the cultural and creative industries sectors, the DAC is committed to ensure that the arts sector contributes to inclusive economic growth and social cohesion. The department’s spending focus over the medium term will be on implementing the Mzansi golden economy and the national social cohesion strategies through the Institutional Governance and Arts and Culture Promotion and Development programmes. Access to community library services will be broadened through the Heritage Promotion and Preservation programme’s funding of a recapitalisation programme that provides and enhances community library infrastructure, facilities and services. Over the medium term, spending in the Heritage Promotion and Preservation programme in particular is expected to use a significant proportion of the department’s allocation and is projected to grow significantly. This is due to the transfers of the community library services’ conditional grant to provinces, which received additional allocations in the 2013 budget, and transfers to heritage institutions, particularly for new capital works projects. The transfers for capital works projects are mainly for legacy projects under construction, including the Sarah Baartman Centre for Remembrance, the memorial site for JL Dube and the memorial site for OR Tambo. Measures to promote the arts include: • providing financial, as well as information and communication technology support to artists to enable the creation of works expressing national creativity, while opening space for vibrant debate • strengthening the Independent Com- munications Authority of ’s mandate for nation-building and value inculcation • incentivising commercial distribution networks to distribute and/or host art • developing and implementing plans for a more effective arts and culture curriculum in schools with appropriate educator support • supporting income-smoothing for artists in a Arts and Culture special unemployment insurance scheme and evaluating funding models for such initiatives • developing sectoral determination legislation frameworks to protect arts-sector employees. The DAC’s strategic goals over the medium term are to:

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• create 150 000 decent jobs in arts, culture the identification, conservation and promotion and heritage by March 2016 of cultural heritage. • implement targeted programmes that are geared towards human-capital development in Funding the arts, culture and heritage sector by 2014 For the 2014/15 financial year, the total budget • enhance access by citizens and public allocation is R3,5 billion. Relative to the 2013/14 institutions to accurate, reliable and timely financial year, during which the budget was information in their language of choice R2,9 billion, this translates into an increase of through the provision of archives, libraries 20,9%. The actual increase, after the projected and language services inflation rate of 6,2% is taken into consideration, • entrench linguistic diversity in a manner that is 13,9% (or R404,1 million). Approximately facilitates equitable cultural expression by R2,8 billion of the total budget allocation is citizens and communities spent by the entities of the department, namely • enhance the capacity of the sector through on transfer payments to entities and provinces equitable and sustainable development, while R698 million is spent by the department. and the protection and preservation of Transfer allocations for 2014/15: arts, culture and heritage through policy • Heritage Institutions: R594,7 million development, legislative promulgation and • National Library Services: R104,7 million implementation • National Arts Council (NAC): R91,6 million • align public-sector art, culture and heritage • National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF): institutions around a shared vision, a R111,5 million common mandate, and strong governance • National Heritage Council (NHC): R55,9 million and accountability. • National Language Services (NLS): R49,1 million Legislation and policies • Arts and Cultural Development: R335,4 million The DAC derives its mandate from the following • Performing Arts Institutions: R319,1 million legislation: • Capital Works of Performing Arts Institutions: • Heraldry Act, 1962 (Act 18 of 1962) R42,1 million • Culture Promotion Act, 1983 (Act 35 of 1983) • Heritage promotion: R74 million • National Archive Services: R46,2 million • National Archives and Record Service of • Capital Works: R192,3 million South Africa Act, 1996 (Act 43 of 1996) • South African Heritage Resource Agency: • Legal Deposit Act, 1997 (Act 54 of 1997) R47,4 million • South African Geographical Names Council • Public Library Services: R1 billion Act, 1998 (Act 118 of 1998) • South African Geographical Names Council • Cultural Institutions Act, 1998 (Act 119 of 1998) (SAGNC): R8,5 million • National Council for Library and Information • Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB): Act, 2001 (Act 6 of 2001) R83,4 million. • National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 (Act 25 of 1999) National symbols • Use of Official Languages Act, 2012 (Act 12 Animal: Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) of 2012). The springbok’s common name is derived from Broadly, this legislation mandates the DAC to: its characteristic jumping display. It is the only • develop and promote arts and culture in South southern African gazelle and is fairly widespread Africa and mainstream its role in social devel- in open, dry bush, grasslands or riverbeds near opment water. It is also the emblem of South Africa’s • develop and promote the official languages of national rugby team, which bears its name. South Africa and enhance the linguistic diver- sity of the country Bird: Blue crane • improve economic and other development (Anthropoides paradisia) This elegant crane with its silvery blue plumage is opportunities for South African arts and cul- endemic to southern Africa, with more than 99% ture nationally and globally through mutually of the population within South Africa’s borders. beneficial partnerships, thereby ensuring the sustainability of the sector Fish: Galjoen • develop and monitor the implementation of (Coracinus capensis) policy, legislation and strategic direction for The galjoen is found only along the South African

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coast and is a familiar sight to every angler. It The National Anthem keeps to mostly shallow water and is often found in rough surf and sometimes right next to the Nkosi sikelel’ i Afrika shore. i Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo, Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Flower: King protea Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. (Protea cynaroides) Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, This striking protea is found in the south- O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, western and southern areas of the Western O se boloke, Cape. It derives its scientific name cynaroides, O se boloke setjhaba which means “like cynara” (artichoke), from the sa heso, artichoke-like appearance of its flower head. Setjhaba sa South Afrika – South Afrika. Tree: Real yellowwood Uit die blou van onse hemel, (Podocarpus latifolius) Uit die diepte van ons see, The yellowwood family is primeval and has been Oor ons ewige gebergtes, present in South Africa for more than 100 million Waar die kranse antwoord gee. years. The species is widespread, from Table Mountain, along the southern and eastern Cape Sounds the call to come together, coast, in the ravines of the Drakensberg up to And united we shall stand, the Soutpansberg and the Blouberg in Limpopo. Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land. National flag South Africa’s flag is one National Coat of Arms of the most recognised in South Africa’s Coat of Arms, the highest visual the world. It was launched symbol of the State, was launched on Freedom and used for the first time Day, 27 April 2000. on Freedom Day, 27 April Its central image is a secretary bird with 1994. The design and colours are a synopsis uplifted wings and a sun rising above it. of the principal elements of the country’s flag Below the bird is the protea, an indigenous history. South African flower, representing the aesthetic It is the only six-coloured national flag in the harmony of all cultures and the country flowering world. The central design of the flag, beginning as a nation. The ears of wheat are emblems of the at the flag-pole in a “V” form and flowing into a fertility of the land, while the tusks of the African single horizontal band to the outer edge of the elephant symbolise wisdom, steadfastness and fly, can be interpreted as the convergence of strength. diverse elements within South African society, At the centre, stands a shield signifying the taking the road ahead in unity. protection of South Africans, above which are a When the flag is displayed vertically against spear and knobkierie. These assert the defence a wall, the red band should be to the left of the viewer, with the hoist or the cord seam at the top. of peace rather than a posture of war. When displayed horizontally, the hoist should Within the shield are images of the Khoisan be to the left of the viewer and the red band people, the first inhabitants of the land. The at the top. When the flag is displayed next to figures are derived from images on the Linton or behind the speaker at a meeting, it must be Stone, a world-famous example of South African placed to the speaker’s right. When it is placed rock art. elsewhere in the meeting place, it should be to The motto of the coat of arms – !ke e:/xarra//ke – the right of the audience. is in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people, and means “diverse people unite” or “people who are National anthem different joining together.” South Africa’s national anthem is a combined version of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and The Call of National Orders South Africa (Die Stem van Suid-Afrika). National Orders are the highest awards that the Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was composed by country, through its President, can bestow on Methodist mission schoolteacher, Enoch individual South Africans and eminent foreign Sontonga, in 1897. The words of The Call of leaders and personalities. South Africa were written by CJ Langenhoven They are presented annually on 27 April, in May 1918, and the music was composed by Freedom Day: Reverend ML de Villiers in 1921. • The Order of Mapungubwe is awarded to

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South African citizens for excellence and Languages exceptional achievement. South Africa is a multilingual country. The • The Order of the Baobab is awarded to South country’s Constitution guarantees equal status African citizens for distinguished service in the to 11 official languages to cater for its diverse fields of business and the economy; science, people and their cultures. These are: English, medicine and technological innovation; and isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Afrikaans, community service. Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda • The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo and Xitsonga. is awarded to heads of state and other dignit- Other languages used in South Africa include aries for promoting peace, cooperation and the Khoi, Nama and San languages, Sign friendship towards South Africa. Language, Arabic, German, Greek, Gujarati, • The is awarded to South Hebrew, Hindi, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Tamil, Africans who have made a meaningful Telegu and Urdu. South Africa has various contribution to the Struggle for democracy, structures and institutions that support the human rights, nation-building, justice and preservation and development of languages. peace, and conflict resolution. • The Order of Ikhamanga is awarded to South Role players African citizens who have excelled in the fields National Heritage Council of arts, culture, literature, music, journalism The NHC of South Africa is a statutory body that is and sport. responsible for the preservation of the country’s • The Order of Mendi for Bravery is awarded to heritage. Since its inception in February 2004, it South African citizens who have performed has managed to place heritage as a priority for extraordinary acts of bravery. nation-building and national identity. In April 2014, President awarded The NHC focuses on policy development for the National Orders to 54 South Africans and foreign sector to meet its transformation goals, enhance nationals who have contributed towards the public awareness and education, and increase advancement of democracy. knowledge production in heritage subjects that The ceremony was held under the theme: were previously neglected. “South Africa – A Better Place to live in.” It also makes funding available to projects that The recipients of the 2014 National Orders were: present heritage as a socio-economic resource. • The Order of Mendi: Reggie Vandeyar, Shirish Nanabhai, Indres Naidoo, Russell Maphanga South African Heritage Resources and Elizabeth Barrett. Agency (SAHRA) • The Order of Ikhamanga: Jomo Sono, Lucas SAHRA is a statutory organisation established Sithole, Sandra Prinsloo, Victor Ntoni, Zakes under the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 Mda, Fanie van der Merwe, Lindiwe Mabuza, (Act 25 of 1999), as the national administrative Rashid Lombard, Cameron van der Burgh and body responsible for the protection of South Caster Semenya. Africa’s cultural heritage. • The Order of the Baobab: Frederick Van Zyl SAHRA provides for the identification, Slabbert, Dawid Kruiper, Katrina Esau, Alex protection, conservation and promotion of Boraine, Chris Ball, Raymond Ackerman, South Africa’s heritage for present and future Abraham September and Tshepo Khumbane. generations. It established the National Heritage • The Order of Luthuli: Florence Matomela, Sir Resources Fund to provide financial assistance Bob Hepple, Abdullah Haron, , David to approved bodies or individuals, for any project Bopape, , Zola Skweyiya, that contributes to the conservation and protection Jeanette Schoon, Agnes Msimang, Zephania of South Africa’s national heritage resources. Mothopeng, Popo Molefe, Father Smangaliso Conservation categories include: Mkhatshwa, Wolfie Kodesh, Abdulhay Jassat • national heritage sites, registers, areas and and Mittah Seperepere. objects • The Order of Mapungubwe: William Soga, • protected areas Barry Schoub, Hendrik Schaaf, Ismail • structures of more than 60 years old Mohamed and Namrita Lall. • burial grounds and graves • The Order of the Companions of OR Tambo: • fossils (palaeontology) and archaeology Alfre Woodard, Ruth Neto, Alexander • rock art Moumbaris, Lord Neil Kinnock, Thomas Karis, • underwater cultural heritage, including Quincy Jones, Danny Glover, Jerry Dammers, histor-ical shipwrecks. Jean Cissé, Gwendolen Carter and Lord SAHRA conserves buildings of historical or Richard Attenborough. architectural value.

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National Orders and Symbols

The Order of the Baobab The Order of Luthuli The Order of Mendi

The Order of The Order of the Companions of The Order of Ikhamanga Mapungubwe OR Tambo

The Coat of Arms National flower: King protea National fish: Galjoen

National tree: Real National bird: Blue crane National animal: Springbok yellowwood

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More than 4 000 buildings, sites and other performing arts: objects (including trees) have been declared • State Theatre, national monuments. • Playhouse Company, Heritage South Africa is a non-profit • ArtsCape, organisation that conserves South Africa’s • Market Theatre, Johannesburg variety of architectural gems. • Performing Arts Centre of the Free State, South African Geographical Names • Windybrow Theatre, Johannesburg. Council The institutions receive annual transfers from The SAGNC advises the Minister of Arts and the DAC, but also generate revenue through Culture on the transformation and standardisation entrance fees, donor assistance, sponsorships of official geographical names in South Africa. and rental income. The council has jurisdiction over all names of geographical features and entities falling within Business and Arts South Africa (Basa) the territories over which the South African Basa promotes mutually beneficial, equitable Government has sovereignty. and sustainable business-arts partnerships for The renaming of geographical features is the benefit of the whole of society. It does this regarded as a form of symbolic reparation to through research and seminars that examine address South Africa’s past. the arts-business relationships. Basa provides a The following principles are adhered to: bespoke service to businesses, and celebrates • each individual feature or entity should have successful business-arts partnerships – all only one official name with the aim of ensuring the relevance and • the following types of geographical names sustainability of the arts in South Africa. would generally be avoided: It has peer agencies in the United Kingdom - approved names of places elsewhere in (UK) and Australia, and has over 160 corporate South Africa members. - names of places in other countries and names of countries Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) - names that are blasphemous, indecent, ACT is the oldest arts funding agency in offensive, vulgar, unaesthetic or embarrassing democratic South Africa. Since 1994 it has -names that are discriminatory or derogatory advanced its position towards becoming a - names that may be regarded as an advert- self-sustaining perpetual fund for the continued isement for a particular product, service or firm development of arts and culture. -names of living people. It was established to develop and promote Geographical names committees have been arts, culture and heritage, in general, by securing established in all nine provinces. financial and other resources; and to promote the needs and the role of the sector in the public National Arts Council of South Africa domain. The NAC was established in 1997 as a Due regard is given to ensuring a spread funding institution for the arts, to provide, and of projects across all the cultural and artistic encourage the provision; of opportunities for disciplines, including arts administration, arts people to practise the arts and to promote the education, community art, festivals, heritage, appreciation, understanding and enjoyment of craft, fine art, dance, music, theatre, literature, the arts. multidisciplinary and new media. It awards grants to individuals and organisations in the arts. Community art centres and other Funding is also available for individual cutural organisations bursaries for postgraduate studies in the arts. More than 160 community art centres are in Individuals and registered organisations operation, varying from community-initiated to active in theatre, dance, crafts, literature, music, government-managed centres. multidiscipline and visual arts may apply for project funding. At the 2014 Africa Movie Academy Awards held in Bayelsa, Nigeria in May 2014, South African entries received well- deserved accolades. The South African award winners were: Arts institutions Best Animation – Tigerfish (Khumba); Achievement In Make- The following arts institutions contribute to a i up – Once Upon A Road Trip; Best Screenplay – Of Good sustainable performing arts industry based on Report; Best Director– Jamil Quebeka (Of Good Report); Most Promising Actor: Petronella Tshuma (Of Good Report); access, excellence, diversity and redress, and Best Actor in Leading Role: Mothusi Magano (Of Good encourage the development of the full range of Report); Best Film: Of Good Report.

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The centres operate at different levels, • national language bodies ranging from general socio-cultural promotion to • national lexicographic units. advanced programmes and vocational training. PanSALB is mandated by law to investigate These centres are located in, for example, complaints about language-rights violations from craft centres, community halls and theatres. any individual, organisation or institution. Many art centres are functioning well and have It conducts hearings at which complainants made impressive contributions to local socio- and respondents are present, and depending on economic development. its findings may recommend steps to be taken by The DAC endorses and supports programmes the department or institution concerned. in needy centres that are community-initiated or non-governmental. Programmes, projects and initiatives Bureau of Heraldry Public Art Programme The Bureau of Heraldry is responsible for The Public Art Programme, which focuses on registering: beautification and story telling through art in • coats of arms communities and showcasing artistic talent, • badges and other emblems such as flags, is one of three projects aimed at stimulating seals, medals and insignia of rank and offices demand in the sector. of order The programme is projected to create 5 000 • names and uniforms (colours) of associations work opportunities by 2014/15. and organisations, such as universities The heritage legacy projects include the • promoting national symbols. liberation heritage route and a marine heritage project. National Language Service The latter is a recreational underwater The NLS is tasked with meeting the museum in Kosi Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, which constitutional obligations of multilingualism will interpret aspects of the history of slavery, by managing language diversity through indentured labour and the South African Native language planning, human-language Labour Corps. technologies and terminology projects. It also It has the potential to create 1 517 work provides a translation and editing service in opportunities, with annual growth of between the official and foreign languages. 200 and 968 work opportunities between 2013 Through its bursary scheme, the department and 2015. offers language-learning opportunities, as well as training in language practice. Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy As part of the national target of creating five Pan South African Language Board million jobs within the next 10 years, the DAC Parliament established PanSALB to develop launched the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy South Africa’s 11 official languages, as well as in 2011, which was expected to create more than the Khoi and the San languages and South 150 000 work opportunities between 2012 and African Sign Language, and to promote 2017. multilingualism by: The strategy involves a number of arts and • creating the conditions for the development culture job-creation programmes. These include of and the equal use of all official languages the Public Art Programme, where youth will • fostering respect for and encouraging the receive art classes, after which the department use of other languages in the country will employ them in their respective communities • encouraging the best use of the country’s to beautify the environment through art. linguistic resources to enable South About 3 000 full-time art facilitators will be Africans to free themselves from all forms deployed in schools throughout the country of linguistic discrimination, domination and to facilitate the initiative. Along with the division and to enable them to exercise establishment of an Art Bank, this is expected to appropriate, linguistic choices for their own create 10 000 new work opportunities over the well-being, and for national development. next three years. To achieve this, the board has three structures: More than R1,5 million was set aside for the • provincial language committees Bokgabo Dikolong visual arts and photography competition, which targeted learners from all Heritage Day is celebrated on 24 September. The 2014 provinces and was implemented jointly with event was celebrated at James Motlatsi Stadium in North West. The theme was: “Celebrating 20 Years of Democ- the Department of Basic Education (DBE). A i racy: Tell your story that moves South Africa forward!” further R600 000 was set aside for the South

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African School Choral Eisteddfod, involving all • Aardklop, held annually in Potchefstroom, provinces. North West, is inherently Afrikaans, but Other cultural events that received support universal in character. The festival provides a include the Mangaung African Cultural Festival platform for the creativity and talent of local (Macufe), the North West Cultural Calabash in artists. Taung, the Diamonds and Dorings in Kimberley, • Arts Alive International Festival is held in the the Joy of Jazz in Johannesburg, the Cape Town Johannesburg inner city, with over 600 artists International Jazz Festival and the National Arts performing during the four-day festival at Festival in Grahamstown. various venues in Newtown. The DAC committed to support at least one • The Cape Town International Jazz Festival major signature event per province, targeting a is a two-day festival featuring some 40 baseline of 2 000 work opportunities per event. international and African acts, and performing Other programmes include: on five stages. It also features photographic • five cultural precincts and information centres, and art exhibitions. The 15th Cape Town Jazz which are being piloted in five major cities and Festival in 2014 drew 37 000 jazz lovers. are expected to create more than 2 000 new • The FNB Dance Umbrella is a festival of work opportunities contemporary choreography and dance, • supporting 26 major cultural events annually presenting work ranging from community- to generate a baseline target of more than based dance troupes to international 2 000 work opportunities per event and include companies. big events such as the Joy of Jazz • The Ficksburg Cherry Festival in the eastern • setting up a National Skills Academy for the Free State attracts about 20 000 visitors. arts to train youth, particularly those in rural • The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, areas known as the KKNK, a vibrant festival for the • the Indoni, “My Heritage My Pride” Programme, performing arts, is held annually in Oudtshoorn aimed at providing youth with life-skills training, and presentations include drama, cabaret, education and appreciation for their heritage and contemporary and classical music. • the Trendsetter Initiative, which will encourage • The Mangaung African Cultural Festival in youth to participate in the arts and contribute Bloemfontein is gaining status as one of the to the development of their communities biggest cultural tourism events in southern • developing a recreational underwater Africa. This 10-day festival showcases the museum in Kosi Bay, which is expected to cream of African and international talent and boost adventure and cultural tourism on the attracts up to 140 000 people. East Coast • The National Arts Festival, held annually in • working with the United Nations (UN) July in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, Conference on Trade and Development is one of the largest and most diverse arts towards establishing a cultural observancy to gatherings in Africa. collect and analyse data within the sector. • Oppikoppi Easter Festival and Oppikoppi Bushveld Bash near Northam in North West Investing in Culture Programme offer live performances by rock, alternative The programme promotes job creation, skills and blues bands, both local and from abroad. development and economic empowerment, • The Splashy Fen Music Festival near supporting business start-ups and poverty- Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal offers a variety alleviation projects. of mainstream and alternative rock and pop Funds are transferred to participants in the music. programme’s projects and are disbursed on the • Standard Bank Joy of Jazz is Johannesburg’s basis of annual business plans and service-level biggest annual jazz festival, with more than agreements between the department and the 200 local and international artists performing individual or group contractors. at different venues across the city. • Up the Creek is a popular music festival on the Festivals banks of the Breede River near Swellendam Arts and cultural festivals abound in South in the Western Cape. Africa, offering something for every taste – from Other festivals that attract visitors at both prickly pears, peaches, “witblits”, asparagus national and international level are: Innibos in and cherries, to various music forms, dance, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga; North West’s Cultural arts, science, books and whales. Calabash; the One City Festival in Taung, North Many of these have become annual events, West; the Awesome Africa Music Festival in growing in popularity and attendance numbers. Durban; the Spier Summer Festival at Spier

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Estate in the Western Cape; the Windybrow of working class entertainment. In 1929 the Theatre Festival in Johannesburg; and the Methethwe Lucky Stars was formed, basing its annual Witness Hilton Arts Festival. productions on themes of rural life and customs. In July 2014, Durban Wild Talk Africa showcased In 1932, came the Bantu Dramatic Society, a selection of both local and international natural which aimed to encourage ‘Bantu Playwrights’ history films at the 35th Durban International and to develop African dramatic and operatic art. Film. Films included Unearthed, Black Mamba: The 1930s and 1940s saw the blooming of Kiss of Death, Birdman Chronicles, DamNation, the work of Herbert Dhlomo – teacher, journalist, and Expedition to the End of the World. The and musician – the first South African playwright partnership between Durban Wild Talk Africa to make a significant attempt through drama to and Durban International Film Festival is part of challenge colonial domination. His work The Girl the City of Durban’s vision to position the city as Who Killed to Save was the first play by a black Africa’s primary destination for film markets and writer in English to be published. festivals. Indigenous theatre continued to develop The Mandela International Film Festival in the 1940s and 1950s with the formation set to take place in the Bay of organisations like the Orlando Boy’s Club area in December 2015 will focus the world’s Dramatic Society. film industry in South Africa and attract global In the townships, particularly in Johannesburg’s interest, not just for the film industry, but also as vital, violent, vibrant , with its mix a major tourism destination. of colours and cultures, of musicians and The Nelson Mandela Bay area of the Eastern writers and gangsters, in the 1940s an eclectic Cape offers not only an exceptional venue for performance culture was developing which drew the film industry but is also is part of a massive upon American, English and African cultural investment promotion strategy that includes traditions and involved comic sketches and a range of initiatives from infrastructure to acting as well as jazz, singing and dancing. manufacturing, tourism and agriculture. Apart from early productions, notably the groundbreaking musical, King Kong, in the Theatre 1960s, theatre created in South Africa by South The theatre scene is buzzing in South Africa, Africans only started making an impact with the with over 100 active spaces across the country advent of Johannesburg’s innovative Market offering everything from indigenous drama, Theatre in the mid-1970s, just as the cultural, music, dance, cabaret and satire to West End sporting and academic boycott was taking hold. and Broadway hits, classical opera and ballet. The Market Theatre was formally opened Venues range from the monolithic homes on 21 June 1976. It was here that Johannesburg of the former state-supported performing arts theatre-goers were introduced to the work of councils to purpose-built theatres, a converted most of South Africa’s leading playwrights and fruit market, country barns, casinos, and urban directors, including Welcome Msomi, Zanemvula holes-in-the-wall. (Zakes) Mda, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Gibson Kente, In the early 20th century, missionaries made Paul Slabolepszy, Mbongeni Ngema, Adam an important contribution to a tradition of theatre Small, PG du Plessis, Kessie Govender, Bartho when they used drama in education. Their Smit, Maishe Maponya, Percy Mtwa, Deon themes were not only staged versions of biblical Opperman, Reza de Wet, Matsemela Manaka teachings but also didactic plays located in and many others. South Africa. At Marianhill in the 1920s Father It was to the Market Theatre that Athol Fugard Bernard Hess also encouraged the production brought his A Lesson from Aloes, Master Harold of comedies and the dramatisation of Zulu and the Boys, The Road to Mecca, A Place with narratives. the Pigs, My Children! My Africa! and Playland. Theatre began to flourish in black townships At the Market Theatre, Barney Simon and his where performance arts became increasingly actors developed in workshop Cincinnatti – popular in the 1920s and 1930s as a form Scenes from City Life, Call Me Woman, Black Dog Inj’emnyana, Outers, Born in the RSA and In 2014/15, the Department of Arts and Culture supported Woza Albert! 22 national and regional flagship events, including the The performing arts marketed South Africa National Arts Festival and the Cape Town international Jazz Festival, and a range of regional festivals as such the Kala- most effectively to overseas audiences during i hari Desert Festival in the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga the 1980s, specifically through theatre and Comes Alive in Mpumalanga, Macufe in the Free State and musical productions. the Marula Festival in Limpopo. These events are catalysts In recent years, South African theatre has for economic development, given that artists are reliant on events for income and economic sustainability. taken the entertainment world by storm with

69 ArtsArts and and Culture Culture commendable reviews for Umoja, The Lion Moshito Music Conference King and Kat and The Kings. The reception and Exhibition these productions enjoy in capitals of the world The DAC hosts the annual Moshito Conference testifies to the high quality of indigenous South and Exhibition, a key music event on the African African theatre. continent that promotes collaboration among In nurseries such as the Market Theatre interested parties from both the private and Laboratory, the Liberty Theatre on the Square, public sectors. Saturday Children’s Theatre Workshops, the The event is designed to provide opportunities Cape Town Theatre Lab and the National for business networking; information exchange; Children’s Theatre, new shoots of talent are music-business education; promotion and burgeoning and blooming, nurtured by events product development for national music such as the Market’s Community and Young producers, performers, individuals and entities Writers’ festivals. Many new names are being providing support services; as well as to added to the list of South African playwrights strengthen business opportunities for the music such as Lesego Rampolokeng, Xoli Norman, industry and related media. Mondi Mayepu, Heinrich Reisenhofer, Oscar Petersen, Mark Lottering, Nazli George, Craig Macufe Festival Freimond and Rajesh Gopie. The DAC, in partnership with the Free State Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Music hosted the Macufe Festival from 3 to12 October According to the Fourth South African Edition of 2014 in Bloemfontein. Macufe 2014 was staged PwC’s South African Entertainment and Media against the backdrop of the celebration of 20 Years Outlook: 2013 – 2017, published in September, of Freedom under the theme: “Ya Lla Melodi Ya digital music sales will account for just 14% of Tokoloho” (The Sounds of Freedom). South African recorded music retail sales by 2017. The department has financially supported the South Africa is the 25th largest market for Macufe Festival for several years and currently recorded music, with the industry employing more does so through the Mzansi Golden Economy than 20 000 people. Strategy, which promotes job creation and seeks Local music accounts for a third of all the music to increase the contribution of arts and culture to bought by South Africans. sustainable economic development. Township jazz and blues, especially the Macufe provided a line-up of top and kwêla music of the forties and fifties, are being international musicians such as Zahara, redefined; the country also has a rich choral , Mafikizolo, Rebecca tradition, and pop and rock musicians have Malope, Ringo Madlingozi, , made their mark internationally. Jimmy Dludlu, Don Laka, Jonas Gwangwa, Even techno-rave and house music have Oliver Mtukudzi, Savage and Earl Klugh. found their own variations in local culture. In 2014, the DAC introduced the Public Art Kwaito and hip-hop are very popular, combining through Painting Democracy project. This elements of rap, reggae and other musical styles project included paintings of key moments in into a distinctly South African style. Kwaai Jazz the 20 years of democracy, murals of prominent is also gaining momentum. South Africans, including politicians, artists, Music is one of the key cultural industries scientists and other outstanding achievers in identified in the Cultural Industrial Growth various sectors. Strategy Report, and government has committed As part of celebrating 20 Years of Freedom itself to harnessing its potential. In addition and democracy, a permanent exhibition was to its cultural value, music plays an important mounted at the Macufe Arts and Crafts Market economic role in the country, generating for artists to draw portraits using charcoal and significant copyright revenue. In this industry, pencil throughout the festival. the department has solid foundations on which to build. These include the annual South African South African Music Awards (Samas) Music Week, the in-school education programme The 20th annual MTN Samas ceremony was run in conjunction with the DBE, and the Moshito held at Sun City, North West, in April 2014. The Music Conference and Exhibition. winners were: The Taking South African Music to the World At the end of April 2014, the musical production Anthems Programme is aimed at improving export of Democracy graced the stage in Johannesburg featur- opportunities for South African music. ing artists such as Joan Armatrading, Bright Blue, Yvonne The DAC funds a number of musical ensembles Chaka Chaka, Jennifer Ferguson, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, i Mzwakhe Mbuli, Vicky Sampson, the Gospel Choir, directly and indirectly, through the NAC. Victor Masondo, Themba Mkhize and Gcina Mhlope.

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• KIA Record of the Year: Mafikizolo – Khona. • Best Engineer of the Year: Peter Auret – Pimp • of the Year: Mafikizolo – Reunited. My Piano by Charl du Plessis. • Duo or Group of the Year: Mafikizolo – Reu- • Remix of the Year: Oskido –Tsa Ma Ndebele. nited. • Best Selling DVD: Joyous Celebration – • Female Artist of the Year: Zahara – Phendula. Grateful Vol.17. • Male Artist of the Year: Kabomo – Memory • Best Selling Ring-back Tone: Mafikizolo – Remains. Khona. • Newcomer of the Year: Naima Kay – Umse- • Best Selling Full-track Download: Mafikizolo – benzi. Khona. • Best Rock Album: Van Coke Kartel – Bloed, • Best Selling Total Downloads: Mafikizolo – Sweet & Trane. Khona. • Best Pop Album: Mafikizolo – Reunited. • Highest Airplay of the Year 2013: DJ Kent, • Best Pop Album (Afrikaans): Karlien van featuring The Arrows – Spin My World Around. Jaarsveld – Uitklophou. • Best Adult Contemporary Album: Shaun Dance Jacobs – Love Can Dancing is part of the African way of life and has • Best Contemporary Music Album: Elvis Blue become a prime means of artistic expression, with dance companies expanding and exploring – Afrikaans new territory. • Best African Adult Album: Zonke – Give and Contemporary work ranges from normal Take Live. preconceptions of movement and per formance • Best Rap Album: iFani – I Believes in Me (1st art or performance theatre to the completely Quadrant). unconventional. • Best Kwaito Album: Big Nuz – Made in Africa. Added to this is the African experience, which • Best Dance Album: Mi Casa – Su Casa. includes traditional dance inspired by wedding • Best Traditional Faith Music Album: Rebecca ceremonies, battles, rituals and the trifles of – Bayos’Khomba. everyday life. • Best Collaboration: Mafikizolo Ft May D– An informal but highly versatile performance venue in Johannesburg, The Dance Factory, Happiness. provides a permanent platform for a variety of • Best Selling Album: Zahara – Phendula. dance and movement groups. • Best Maskandi Album: Thokozani Langa – The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Inyakanyaka. Theatre is another popular dance venue. • Best Jazz Album: Shane Cooper – Oscilla- tions. Dance Umbrella • Lifetime Achievement Awards: Ladysmith The Dance Umbrella is an annual platform for Black Mambazo and Phuzekhemisi. South African contemporary dance at which new • International Achievement Award: Ladysmith choreographic creations are presented. It is an Black Mambazo. open platform encompassing performances by youth and community groups, the efforts of young • Best Contemporary Faith Music Album: choreographers and commissioned works from • Nqubeko Mbatha – Sentiments of a Worshiper. professionals. The Dance Umbrella 2015 ran • Best Traditional Album: Dr Thomas Chauke from 26 February to 15 March and offered a once- Na Shinyori Sisters – Shimatsatsa No 32. in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover, experience • Best Alternative Album: Nakhane Touré – and enjoy contemporary dance on all levels. Brave Confusion. New local and international works took over • Best R&B/Soul/Reggae Album: The Soil – the city with dance. Reflections Live in Joburg. A highlight of the 2015 festival was the strong • Best Classical and/or Instrumental Album: focus on female choreographers. Since Dance Guy Buttery – Live in KwaZulu. Umbrella’s inception, male choreographers have dominated the contemporary dance • Best Live DVD: Zonke – Give and Take Live. scene but this has shifted over the past • Best Music Video of the Year: Kyle Lewis – years. Dance Umbrella 2015 focused on, Sleepwalker by The Parlotones, Khuli Chana and celebrated both the established and the and Jon Savage. young up-and-coming female choreographers • Best Producer of the Year: Darryl Torr –Yes/ who will share the programme with their male No/Grey by Gangs of Ballet. counterparts.

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Visual arts Immortalised visions of the artists’ spiritual South Africa has a rich variety of visual art, with world can also be found on the sandstone influences ranging from pre-historic, ancient canvases. and indigenous art to western, Asian and These depict complex symbols and metaphors contemporary art. to illustrate the supernatural powers and potency Art galleries, ranging from small privately they received from nature. owned commercial galleries, to major regional The oldest dated rock art in South Africa, galleries such as the South African National an engraved stone, some 10 200 years, was Gallery in Cape Town, the Durban Art Gallery in discovered in a living floor at the Wonderwerk KwaZulu-Natal, the Johannesburg Art Gallery Cave near Kuruman in the Northern Cape. in Gauteng and King George VI Gallery in The oldest painted stones (around 6 400 in the Eastern Cape, showcase years) were recovered at Boomplaas Cave in collections of indigenous, historical and the Cango Valley near Oudtshoorn. contemporary works. Three painted stones were also found at the Educational institutions also play an import- Klasies River caves, which yielded the second- ant role in acquiring works of national interest. oldest painted stone, dating back some 3 900 Substantial collections are housed at the years. Gertrude Posel Gallery at Wits and at the The DAC supports a number of projects, University of South Africa. Collections at the including a rock-heritage project in Clanwilliam University of Pretoria include the Mapungubwe, in the Western Cape. Van Tilburg and Edoardo Villa collections. The In July 2014, millions of pieces of tools made University of Stellenbosch art collection dates by humankind’s ancestors (possibly the Homo back to 1919. A collection of contemporary Indian heidelbergensis species) were uncovered at art is housed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Kathu in the Northern Cape. The site is between The DAC commissioned a team of researchers 700 000 and a million years old and used to be to do an assessment of the visual arts sector a huge workshop to produce tools. The findings in South Africa, to assess the current position of visual arts in South Africa, and to identify were published in the technical magazine, PLoS opportunities for growing the artistic, social and One, by the universities of Cape Town and economic contribution of the visual arts in the Toronto (Canada) and the McGregor Museum in society and the economy. The report noted that: Kimberley. The hominid species produced tools • the sector contributes over R1 billion to the and equipment at the site for 20 000 to 30 000 economy years generation after generation. • the sector provides employment to almost 18 000 people Photography • over 50% of these are women and 53,4% are With its scenic beauty, abundant wildlife, diversity under 35. of cultures and rich historical heritage, South Africa is a photographer’s paradise. Rock art Many South African photographers have been There are many traces of ancient cultures that acclaimed for their work, which features in coffee- existed in southern Africa in the distant past. table books, documentaries, local and overseas Experts estimate that there are 250 000 rock-art exhibitions, magazines and newspapers. sites south of the Zambezi. In July 2014, the University of Witwatersrand’s (Wits) Rock The San people left a priceless and unique Art Research Institute received funding to restore a collection collection of Stone Age paintings and engravings of rock art copies and materials by South African abstract in the region, which also represents the largest painter Walter Battiss. The funding was given by the Bank of i America Merrill Lynch 2014 global Art Conservation Project. collection of its kind in the world. Since the programme’s inception in 2010, the company has Rock engravings are scattered on flat rock provided grants to museums in 27 countries supporting 71 surfaces and boulders throughout the interior. conservation projects. The project is committed to support- The artworks depict mainly hunter-gatherers ing and preserving South Africa’s rich arts heritage and have recently funded the preservation of 10 paintings by and their relationship with the animal world and South African icon Gerard Sekoto, and provided funding to historical events, as well as their interaction with conserve 25 Ndebele beaded aprons created between the and observation of newcomers encroaching 1950s and 1980s. The grant will pay for the appointment upon their living space. of expert paper conservators to clean, sort and restore the Indigenous people with spears and Nguni collection. It will also make hands-on internship opportunities available to students. In addition, two academics will work cattle, Khoikhoi fat-tailed sheep, European through Battiss’s correspondence, diaries and newspaper settlers on horseback with rifles and wagons, cuttings to provide a better appreciation of the artist’s contri- and ships and soldiers in uniform were captured bution to Southern African rock art research and history. The in surprising detail. items will go on public display at the Origins Centre Museum in Johannesburg, once they are completed.

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Famous South African photographers include range of arts and crafts, including various Kevin Carter, Ernest Cole, David Goldblatt, Bob forms of traditional artwork and innovative new Gosani, Alf Kumalo, Peter Magubane, Jürgen products. Schadeberg, Austin Stevens and Jodi Bieber. There is a lot of new work in traditional media, Many universities of technology in South with artists constantly developing the African Africa offer diploma and degree-courses in crafts repertoire. photography, including the universities of There are also several important collections of technology of Tshwane, Cape Peninsula, and African art in South Africa, such as the Standard Durban, the Central University of Technology, Bank collection at the Gertrude Posel Gallery at Free State and the Vaal University of Technology Wits University, in Johannesburg. The Durban in Vanderbijlpark. Art Gallery houses works of historical and There are also several private educational anthropological significance. institutions that offer photography courses, These range from jewellery, tableware, home including the Stellenbosch Academy of Design decorations, embroidery and key rings to skilfully and Photography, the Open Window School crafted wooden engravings and wirework of Visual Arts in Pretoria and the Cape Town sculptures. In addition to the standard materials School of Photography. such as beads, grass, leather, fabric and clay, many other mediums are also used, including Architecture telephone wire, plastic bags, empty cans, bottle South Africa has a rich architectural heritage, tops and even food tin labels, to create brightly reflecting contributions from all the cultural coloured paper mâché bowls. groups in the country. Through the centuries, Shops, markets and collectors dealing in a unique trend has developed in South Africa’s African crafts provide much-needed employment architectural style, which has been referred to as and income to communities. an innovative marriage of traditions. Fugitive’s Drift in KwaZulu-Natal, offers a large This is evident in the variety of architectural variety of skilfully crafted basketry; the Northern structures found all over the country, ranging Cape Schmidtsdrift community of displaced San from humble dwellings, historical homesteads people produces paintings influenced by ancient and public buildings, to modern, commercial rock art; and the Madi a Thavha Art Gallery in the buildings reflecting state-of-the-art technology Soutpansberg region of the Limpopo produces and designs that match the best in the world. and sells a range of arts and crafts created by the A prime example of local excellence and local Venda and Tsonga communities, including innovation is the Mapungubwe Interpretation beautiful beadwork, sculptures, ceramics and Centre in the Mapungubwe National Park, jewellery. Limpopo. Designed by Peter Rich Architects of South African folk art is also making inroads Johannesburg, the building was awarded the into Western-style “high art”. World Building of the Year Award 2009 at the The Ndebele tradition of house-painting, part World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, as well of the widespread African practice of painting or as the David Alsop Sustainability Award. decorating the exteriors of homes, burgeoned Schools of architecture exist within various amazingly with the advent of commercial paints. South African universities, including the It also gave rise to artists such as Esther universities of Pretoria, Cape Town, the Free Mahlangu, who has put her adaptations of the State, KwaZulu-Natal, the Witwatersrand and distinctive, highly coloured geometric Ndebele the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. designs on everything from cars to aeroplanes. Crafts Design A high level of skill is brought to the production of The Design Indaba Conference 2015 took work that has long been a part of African society, place from 25 to 27 February at the Cape Town and has found new commercial outlets. International Convention Centre. A live simulcast South African beadwork, once the insignia of was hosted at the same time at various venues tribal royalty alone, has found a huge range of around southern Africa. applications, from the creation of coverings for Since 1995, the Design Indaba Conference everything from bottles to matchboxes, to the has invited the world’s top creative minds reproduction of the red AIDS ribbon using Zulu to address professionals from the creative, beadwork known, as Zulu love letters. corporate and education sectors alike. With workplaces ranging from the pavements Design Indaba recognises graphic design, and markets of the big cities to dwellings in deep advertising, film, music, fashion design, industrial rural areas, South Africans produce a remarkable design, architecture, craft, visual art, new media,

73 ArtsArts and and Culture Culture publishing, broadcasting and performing arts Pearl, Jessica Mbangeni and Mark Manaka shoulder-to-shoulder. are household names in the genre. Regular Every year the programme features a sterling platforms have been created to give these poets line-up of international speakers from all corners opportunities to hone their skills. of the world, coming together on the Design The Publishing Association of South Africa Indaba stage to present an up-to-the-minute (PASA) is committed to creativity, literacy, the survey on design and innovation from across the free flow of ideas and encouraging a culture creative sectors. Surprise elements of dialogue, of reading. According to their 2013 survey, performance and music intersperse the speaker the publishing industry recorded a turnover of programme for an experience that makes Design between R5 and R50 million. Indaba what has been said by many to be the The direct suppliers of imported print books best creative conference in the world. to trade booksellers’ combined market share as indicated by the Nielsen BookScan South Literature Africa 2013 52-week Standard Executive Report South Africa has a rich and diverse literary his- determined. This showed an increase in direct tory, with realism, until relatively recently, domi- supply market share from 8,6% in 2012 to 9,4% nating works of fiction. in 2013. The general trade sub-sector recorded Fiction has been written in all of South Africa’s a year-on-year turnover decrease of 2,6% and 11 official languages – with a large body of work the academic sub-sector a decrease of 5,1%, in Afrikaans and English. This overview focuses compensated for by an increase in the education primarily on English fiction, though it also sub-sector of 26%. Book exports earned 23,6% touches on major poetic developments. less revenue in 2013 compared to 2012. The local literature sector has become glob- Locally published eBooks recorded an ally competitive and the country’s writers con- increased turnover of R14 million (up 50% on tinue to command respect throughout the world. 2012), generated mainly by the general trade Well-known South African writers include and education sub-sectors. This increase was Nobel Prize winners JM Coetzee and Nadine driven by a significant conversion of formerly Gordimer, Gcina Mhlope, Phaswane Mpe, published print book content to ebook formats. Es’kia Mphahlele, Wally Serote, Athol Fugard, The DAC, in collaboration with the National Herman Charles Bosman, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Library of South Africa (NLSA), is reprinting Breyten Breytenbach, Dalene Matthee, Alan some out-of-print books that are considered Paton, Olive Schreiner, Andre P Brink and classics in indigenous African languages. Njabulo Ndebele. The department is continuing with the The current generation of writers are also Indigenous Languages Publishing Programme, making their mark on the world stage, with a partnership with the South African Book writers such as Zakes Mda, Niq Mhlongo and Development Council (SABDC), to produce the late K Sello Duiker, who have had their new material in the nine previously marginalised novels translated into languages such as Dutch, indigenous languages. German and Spanish; and Deon Meyer, whose The programme offers publishing opportunities work has attracted worldwide critical acclaim to emerging writers and support to independent and a growing international fan base. Originally small publishers. written in Afrikaans, Meyer’s books have been National Book Week was celebrated from translated into 25 languages, including English, 1 to 7 September 2014. The initiative promotes French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, literacy, celebrates reading and is the result Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Finnish, of a partnership between the South African Czech, Romanian, Slovakian, Bulgarian, Book Development Council, the DAC and the Japanese and Polish. Department of Correctional Services. The theme Well-known poets include Keorapetse William for National Book Week 2014 was: “Going Places” Kgositsile, Joseph Mbuyiseni Mtshali, Roy and was aimed at showing how books can Campbell, Sheila Cussons, Jakob Daniël du figuratively and literally take readers anywhere. Toit (better known as Totius), Elisabeth Eybers, Events that were planned around the country Ingrid Jonker, Antjie Krog, Thomas Pringle, included reading in indigenous languages, NP van Wyk Louw and Eugène Marais. storytelling and motivational talks, word-a-thons, The new pop culture in poetry, often referred poetry sessions and book debates. to as “spoken-word poetry”, is one of the The DAC supports the Baobab Literary most celebrated art forms in the country and Journal with the purpose of providing a regular beyond. Poets such as Lesego Rampolokeng, publishing platform for budding writers to appear Lebogang Mashile, Kgafela oa Magogodi, Blaq alongside seasoned ones. This publication

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includes contributors from various countries became limited in the 1920s, and it was only in across the African continent and the Diaspora. the 1950s that the market picked up again, when The department continues to support the Time Afrikaans filmmakers developed an interest in of the Writer and the Poetry Africa festivals, held the industry. annually in Durban. These festivals also deliver In the 1980s, South Africa gave foreign developmental workshops for young emerging companies the opportunity to film movies in the writers, a schools programme and an initiative country by giving them tax breaks. with the Department of Correctional Services The South African film industry contributes to promote writing among inmates. WordFest, R3,5 billion annually to the country’s GDP, while a literary component of the Grahamstown Arts providing employment for more than 25 000 Festival, focuses on promoting literature in people. indigenous languages. Also popular are the The South African government offers a Johannesburg and Franschhoek literary festivals. package of incentives to promote its film There is an English Literary Museum in production industry. Grahamstown and an Afrikaans Museum in The incentives comprise the Foreign Film and Bloemfontein. The Centre for African Literary Television Production incentive to attract foreign- Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is based film productions to shoot on location home to the Bernth Lindfors Collection of African in South Africa, and the South African Film literature. and Television Production and Co-production The centre’s mission is to promote a culture incentive, which aims to assist local film of reading, writing and publishing in all local producers in producing local content. languages, and easy access to books for all South Africa’s first co-production treaty South Africans. was signed with Canada in 1997, followed by Germany, Italy, the UK, France, Australia and South African Literary Awards New Zealand. The 2014 South African Literary Awards were The three largest film distributors in South Africa awarded as follows: are Ster-Kinekor, United International Pictures • The 2014 Sunday Times Fiction Prize: Claire and Nu-Metro. Ster-Kinekor has a specialised art Robertson, The Spiral House. circuit, called Cinema Nouveau, with theatres in • Lifetime Achievement Award: Nuruddin Farah Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria. and Njabulo Ndebele. Film festivals include the Durban International • First-time Published Author Award: Claire Film Festival; the North West Film Festival; the Robertson, The Spiral House. Apollo Film Festival in Victoria West; the Three • Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award: Continents Film Festival (specialising in African, Makhosazana Xaba, Running and Other South American and Asian films); the Soweto Stories and Reneilwe Malatji, Love Interrupted. Film Festival; and the Encounters Documentary • Literary Translators Award: Nhlanhla Maake, Festival, which alternates between Cape Town Malefane. and Johannesburg. • Poetry Award: Thandi Sliepen, The Turtle In July 2014, the Cape Film Commission Dove Told Me and Themba Patrick Magaisa, hosted the semi-final judging of the International Mihloti ya Tingana. Emmy TV awards category for TV movie and • Creative Non-Fiction Award: Sihle Khumalo, mini-series in the English language. Almost Sleeping My Way to Timbuktu. In August 2014, the dti announced incentives • Posthumous Literary Award: Mbulelo to attract international investment and production Vizikhungo. as well as to assist South African filmmakers • K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award: in developing local content. The Foreign Film Jamala Safari, The Great Agony and Pure and Television Production and Post-Production laughter of the Gods. Incentive is geared towards increasing skills, creativity and employment opportunities within Film the local film industry by promoting the country as The first-ever newsreel was shot in South Africa a valuable production destination to international during the Anglo-Boer/South African War, which filmmakers. ended in 1902. The weekly newsreel ran for more than 60 years. Film production began in National Film and Video Foundation 1916, when IW Schlesinger set up Killarney The NFVF is an agency of the DAC that was Studios in Johannesburg. created to ensure the equitable growth of The studio produced 42 movies between South Africa’s film and video industry. The 1916 and 1922. Access to international markets NFVF provides funding for the development,

75 ArtsArts and and Culture Culture production, marketing and distribution of films African Pavilion serves as a business hub for and also the training and development of filmmakers to conduct business meetings, filmmakers. In addition, the NFVF commissions interact with various stakeholders, financiers, research and produces industry statistics that distributors, festival directors to achieve their provide both the public and stakeholders with goals. valuable insights into the South African film In July 2014, the NFVF announced a new industry. fund to support black filmmakers. The Emerging In March 2015, the Eco Kids Film Initiative Black Filmmakers Fund will provide funding screened many short films that were entered, and other assistance to black filmmakers. The and sourced locally and abroad over the course financing amount per film is R4,5 million for the of seven days for children in Cape Town between development and production and R500 000 for the ages of three and 17. the marketing of the film. Made with the support of the NFVF, The Shore South African Film and Television Break, Unearthed and The Dream of Shahrazad Awards (Saftas) were selected to appear in the International In celebrating 20 Years of Freedom at the Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Cannes film festival to coincide with the national 2014 Competition. IDFA, the world’s largest celebrations, the NFVF’s key message was and most prestigious international documentary “Attracting New Markets and Investment.” The film festival took place in November 2014 in message stood out including in co-production Amsterdam, in The Kingdom of the Netherlands. forums with Brazil, Canada and the United The NFVF provides funding to students in Kingdom, screening of films such as iNumber financial need to pursue film and television related studies at all accredited tertiary Number, Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me, institutions in South Africa. Miners Shot Down and One Humanity. For the past years the NFVF has been In 2014, the NFVF placed additional focus awarding on average, 60 bursaries a year to on emerging filmmakers, a new generation qualifying students who are academic achievers of creative talent eager to conquer the world and passionate about the film and television through their story-telling and collaborations with industry yet lack adequate financial resources to other countries. Among the filmmakers were five further their university studies. of them who were identified to be part of the The South African Film and Television Awards Creative Minds programme, which took them (Saftas) honour individuals and productions in through intensive producers programmes and the following categories: TV Non-Fiction, TV networking opportunities. Fiction, Feature Films, Short Films, Student Association for Transformation in Film and Films and Animation. TV also had a delegation of young filmmakers The awards also honour lifetime achievers funded by the dti to participate at the Cannes with the Special Lifetime Achievement Awards Film Festival. given to esteemed individuals who have long Notable successes include the distribution served the industry in various categories. deal that comedian/filmmaker David Kau signed In April 2014, the Safta awards were held in with Archstone pictures to produce and distribute Johannesburg. The big winner for the evening his film Sekwankwetla, and Pad na jou Hart will was the feature film; Of Good Report directed soon be released in Australia. by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, which took six awards There were numerous successful meetings including best feature film director. The winners which resulted in potential deals which will were: soon be concluded with various South African • Best Actress in a TV Comedy – Tsholo Monedi production companies. Wandile Molebatsi of the (Tiny) – Skwizas: Season 2 first Africa dance film, Hear me Move confirmed • Best Actor in a TV Comedy – Obed Baloyi that UK and USA distribution companies are also (Tsutsuma) – Ga Re Dumele keen to distribute the film. Another SA Producer • Best Ensemble in a TV Comedy – Late Nite with notable success is Greig Buckle of Enigma News (Diprente Films) Pictures, who co-produced One featuring Djimon • Best Writing Team of a TV Comedy – ZA Hounsou, with international partners Main Street NEWS – Andrew Donaldson, Anne Hirsch, Films, MK Create and Kent Smith for the Kojo Marianne Thamm, Thierry Cassuto Group. • Best Director of a TV Comedy – ZA NEWS – The NFVF facilitates South Africa’s Aaron Naidoo and Thierry Cassuto participation at the Cannes International Film • Best TV Comedy – ZA News – Both Worlds Festival by providing a home-away-from-home • Best Animation – Khumba – Triggerfish Ani- environment for local filmmakers. The South mation Studios

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In August 2014, the remains of Nat Nakasa were exhumed justifiably be called the “museum country of from the Ferncliff Cemetery in New York and brought to Africa”, with the earliest of its museums dating South Africa as the country celebrated 20 years of demoracy back to the first half of the 19th century. i – a democracy that he craved for throughout his short life. There are more than 300 museums in South Nakasa was a journalist and short-story writer who mainly wrote about South Africa’s government and the Africa. They range from museums of geology, injustices faced by South Africans at the time. He died in history, the biological sciences and the arts, America after the apartheid government granted him an to mining, agriculture, forestry and many other exit permit that did not allow him to return to the country. His remains were reburied on 13 September 2014 at the Heroes disciplines. Acre cemetery in Chesterville, KwaZulu-Natal. Visitors can find exhibits, both conventional and eccentric, on every conceivable topic – from • Best Supporting Actor in a TV Drama – beer to beadwork, from fashion to food. Akhumzi Jezile (Ngulube) – Tempy Pushas New additions are those reflecting the • Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama – apartheid era, and commemorating those who Harriet Manamela (Meike Maputla) – Skeem fought and died for the cause of establishing a Saam democratic country. • Best Actor in a TV Drama – Siyabonga Thwala Most of the country’s national museums are (Musa) – Intersexions: Season 2 declared cultural institutions and fall under the • Best Actress in a TV Drama – Tina Jaxa overall jurisdiction of the DAC. (Nokuthula) – Intersexions: Season 2 They receive an annual subsidy from the • Best Writing Team of a TV Drama – Room 9 – department, but function autonomously. Athos Kyriakides and Thuso Sibisi The following officially declared heritage • Best Director of a TV Drama – Tempy Pushas institutions depend on annual transfers from the – Libby Dougherty and Tebogo Malope DAC: • Best TV Drama – Intersexions: Season 2 – • Northern Flagship Institutions, Pretoria Quizzical Pictures • Freedom Park, Pretoria • Best Writing Team of a TV Soap – Writing • Iziko Museum, Cape Town Team Isibaya • Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg • Best Director of a TV Soap – Adze Ugah and • Bloemfontein National Museum Denny Miller – Isibaya • Afrikaans Language Museum, Paarl • Best Ensemble TV Soap – Scandal – Ochre • The National English Literary Museum, Media Grahamstown • Best Actor TV Soap – Siyabonga Thwala (Mpi- • Msunduzi/Voortrekker Museum, yakhe Zungu) – Isibaya Pietermaritzburg • Best Actress TV Soap – Thembi Nyandeni • War Museum of the Boer Republics, (Mkabayi Zungu) – Isibaya Bloemfontein • Best Writer in a Made for TV Movie – Writing • Museum, Cape Town Team Inside Story • William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley • Best Director of a Made for TV Movie – Rolisi- • Luthuli Museum, KwaDukuza zwe Nikiwe – Inside Story • Nelson Mandela Museum, Mthatha. • Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film – The following museums report to the Minister of Tshamano Sebe (Vuyani) – Of Good Report Arts and Culture: • Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film – • Ditsong museums of South Africa Tina Jaxa (Head Mistress) – Of Good Report • Iziko museums, Cape Town • Best Actor in a Feature Film – Mothusi • Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg Magano (Parker Sithole) – Of Good Report • National Museum, Bloemfontein • Best Actress in a Feature Film – Antoinette • Language Museum, Paarl Louw (Elle Winter) – Die Laaste Tango • National English Literary Museum, • Best Writing Team of a Feature Film – Jahmil Grahamstown X.T. Qubeka – Of Good Report • Msunduzi/Voortrekker Museum, • Best Director of a Feature Film – Jahmil Pietermaritzburg Qubeka – Of Good Report • War Museum of the Boer Republics, • Best Feature Film – Of Good Report – Spier Bloemfontein Films and New Brighton Pictures • Robben Island Museum, Cape Town • Best TV Soapie – 7de Laan. • William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley • Engelenburg House Art Collection, Pretoria Museums • Nelson Mandela Museum, Mthatha Museums are the windows to the natural and • Luthuli Museum, KwaDukuza. cultural heritage of a country. South Africa can

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The Ditsong museums of South Africa comprise Other museums administered by central the National Cultural History Museum, Kruger government departments or research councils House, Tswaing Meteorite Crater, Willem are the: Prinsloo Agricultural Museum, Pioneer Museum, • Museum of the Council for Geoscience Museum the Coert Steynberg (Pretoria) Museum, the Transvaal Museum and the South • Theiler Veterinary Science Museum at African National Museum of Military History in Onderstepoort (Pretoria) Johannesburg. • South African Air Force Museum at Swartkop The Iziko museums of Cape Town comprise Air Force Base (Pretoria) with its satellites in the South African Museum, the South African Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban Cultural History Museum and its satellite • museum of the Department of Correctional museums, the South African National Gallery, Services (Pretoria). the William Fehr Collection and the Michaelis The best-known natural history collections in Collection. South Africa are housed in the Iziko museums, The Robben Island Museum was established the Ditsong museums of South Africa, the as a national monument and museum, and National Museum and the KwaZulu-Natal declared South Africa’s first world heritage site in Museum. 1999. Guided tours are offered to historical sites The following natural history museums do not on the island, including the cell in which former fall under the DAC, but work closely with the President Mandela was imprisoned. national heritage institutions: In April 2009, the DAC declared Freedom • McGregor Museum, Kimberley Park, Pretoria, a cultural institution under the • East London Museum Cultural Institutions Act of 1998. • South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, The //hapo museum at the historic Freedom Grahamstown Park was officially unveiled in April 2013. • Port Elizabeth Museum The museum, which is situated at the top • Durban Museum of Natural History. of Salvokop in Pretoria, will also serve as a The best-known cultural history collections are monument to the mighty legacy of South Africa’s housed in the Iziko and the Ditsong museums, first democratically elected President, Nelson as well as the Durban Local History Museum Mandela. and Museum Africa in Johannesburg. //hapo is a Khoi word which means “a dream.” The South African National Gallery in Cape The museum will help the country define the Town and the William Humphreys Art Gallery in history, in holistic terms, from the early wars of Kimberley report to the DAC. dispossession such as the Khoikhoi-Dutch war The South African Cultural History Museum in the 1500s; the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in (Slave Lodge) in Cape Town houses the oldest the Cape in 1652; the Third War of Dispossession cultural history collection in the country. between the Khoisan and colonial authorities in The South African Museum (Cape Town) the 1800s; and the South African War, previously showcases the natural history of South Africa, known as the Anglo-Boer War, to the anti- and relics of the early human inhabitants of the apartheid struggle – all of which form part of the subcontinent. freedom history and define the freedom South The huge Whale Hall houses possibly the Africans enjoy today. The museum is the result of most impressive of all its exhibitions. This is the nationwide consultative processes that solicited only collection in South Africa with a planetarium advice from youth, intellectuals, academics, artistic attached to it. communities, women’s groups, traditional leaders In May 2014, South Africa participated in the 11th Interna- and healers and faith-based organisations. tional Film Festival in Western Sahara (FiSahara) in the It is a product of South Africans from all Wilaya of Dakhla, Sahrawi refugee camps. The festival, walks of life and is in every shape and form a held under the theme: “Cinema for Human Rights in West- i ern Sahara,” was attended by 300 international participants community’s dream. from different countries including filmmakers, directors, Other elements include a vast wall human rights activists and people in solidarity with the commemorating those who paid the ultimate Saharawi people. The festival aims to raise awareness of price for freedom, an eternal flame paying the plight of the refugees displaced from their native West- tribute to the unknown and unsung heroes and ern Sahara for nearly four decades and to empower them to tell their own story through film by leaving a lasting legacy of heroines, a gallery dedicated to the legends of film-making skills and equipment in the camps. South Africa humanity, a symbolic resting place for those held a special tribute to the late former President Nelson who have died and the story of southern Africa’s Mandela with specially chosen films, workshops and a 3,6 billion years of history. performance by legendary South African musician Jonas Mosa Gwangwa.

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The Transvaal Museum in Pretoria houses the village nucleus in Stellenbosch; the mansion skull of Mrs Ples, a 2,5-million-year-old hominid of the millionaire industrialist Sammy Marks; fossil, and depicts the origin and development the Kruger House Museum, the residence of life in South Africa, from the most primitive of Paul Kruger, former President of the Zuid- unicellular form of life to the emergence of Afrikaansche Republiek; and Melrose House, mammals and the first human beings. where the Peace Treaty of Vereeniging that It has an impressive collection of early ended the Second Anglo-Boer/South African War human fossils and houses some of the largest (1899 to 1902) was signed, around the massive herpetological and ornithological collections in dining table, on 31 May 1902, in Pretoria. southern Africa. Simpler variations include the Pioneer Museum The Tswaing Meteorite Crater, situated to the and 1848 house in Silverton, Pretoria; and the north-west of Pretoria, combines a museum with Diepkloof Farm Museum featuring a farmhouse a cultural-development initiative. dating back to the 1850s, at Suikerbosrand near The National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria Heidelberg, in Gauteng. is a centre for the preservation and promotion of There are several open-air museums that the culture and heritage of all South Africans. showcase the black cultures of the country, for It explores cultural diversity and commonalities, example, Tsonga Kraal near Letsitele, Limpopo; links the present and the past to offer a better the Ndebele Museum in Middelburg, Mpumalanga; understanding of both, and nurtures the living the Bakone Malapa Museum in Polo- cultures of all South Africans. kwane, Limpopo; and the South Sotho Museum Mining is best represented by the De Beers in Witsieshoek, Free State. Museum at the Big Hole in Kimberley, where The South African Museum for Military visitors can view the biggest hole ever made by History in Johannesburg reflects the military man with pick and shovel. history of the country, while the War Museum It includes an open-air museum, which houses in Bloemfontein depicts the Anglo-Boer/South many buildings dating back to the era of the African War, in particular. diamond diggings. The famous battlefields of KwaZulu-Natal, the Another important mining museum is at Pilgrim’s Northern Cape and North West are also worth Rest, Mpumalanga, where the first economically a visit. viable gold field was discovered. The entire village The work of the War Graves Division of Sahra has been conserved and restored. includes the upkeep of graves of victims of the Agriculture in South Africa is depicted mainly Struggle for South Africa’s liberation. in two museums. These are Kleinplasie in Worcester, Western Cape, which showcases Archives the wine culture and characteristic architecture The archives of governmental bodies are of the winelands; and the Willem Prinsloo transferred to archive repositories after 20 years, Agricultural Museum between Pretoria and and are accessible to the public and to the office Bronkhorstspruit, in Gauteng. of origin. This museum comprises two “house” museums The National Archives in Pretoria includes and runs educational programmes based on its the National Film, Video and Sound Archives extensive collection of early farming implements, (NFVSA). vehicles of yesteryear and indigenous farm Its primary functions are to obtain and animals. preserve films, videotapes and sound recordings The Absa Museum and archives in of archival value, and to make these available for Johannesburg preserve the banking group’s research and reference purposes. The archives of central government are more than 110 years of history. The museum preserved in the National Archives’ repository in also houses a unique and very valuable coin and Pretoria. banknote collection. The nine provinces run their archiving services The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg independently from the National Archives. offers a realistic view of the political situation in The retrieval of information from archives is South Africa during the apartheid years. facilitated by the National Automated Archival Exhibitions in the museum include audiovisual Information System, which can be found footage recorded during the apartheid era. at www.national.archives.gov.za. The Museum in Port Elizabeth It includes national registers of manuscripts, highlights the struggle against apartheid and has photographs and audiovisual material. won several international awards. The National Archives is responsible for A common type of museum in South Africa is collecting non-public records with enduring value the “house” museum. Examples include an entire of national significance.

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The National Archives also renders a regulatory The NLSA is a custodian and provider of the records-management service with regard to nation’s knowledge resources. It is mandated to current records in governmental bodies, aimed at collect and preserve intellectual documentary promoting efficient, transparent and accountable heritage material and make it accessible administration. worldwide. In so doing, it is obliged to pay special attention Its collections contain a wealth of information to aspects of the nation’s experience neglected sources, including rare manuscripts, books, by archives of the past. periodicals, government publications, foreign The Oral History Programme seeks to build official publications, maps, technical reports, and the National Archives’ capacity to document the special interest material, including Africana and spoken word, and fill the gaps in the archives of newspapers. previously disadvantaged communities. The functions of the NLSA are to: The automated National Register of Oral • build a complete collection of published Sources is an important element of the documents emanating from or relating to programme. South Africa The National Oral History Association, which • maintain and preserve these collections was established in 2006, hosts annual oral • provide access to them through bibliographic, history conferences. reference, information and interlending The National Archives’ outreach programme services promotes the use of its facilities and functions. • promote information awareness and literacy. Archives are taken to the people of South Africa In terms of the Legal Deposit Act, 1997 (Act 54 through coordinated national and provincial of 1997), the NLSA receives two copies of each archive services. book, periodical, newspaper, map, manuscript The National Archives is also responsible for material or other publication that is published ensuring effective, transparent and accountable in South Africa in any medium, whether print or management of all public records. electronic. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa The Bookkeeper Mass De-Acidification has and the multiparty South African collections have been installed at the NLSA in Pretoria to treat been nominated and provisionally registered books and archival non-book material to extend for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural the useful life of paper collections. Organisation (Unesco) Memory of the World The NLSA is also able to offer moderate International Register. services to local libraries, archives and museums. This is part of South Africa’s contribution to the The NLSA is a link between the LIS sector and documented collective memory of the peoples of heritage sector. It will influence a social cohesive the world. nation by providing free and equitable access to knowledge and information resources, with a Library and information services theme: “A reading nation is a thriving nation.” (LIS) South Africa’s growing LIS sector includes Library and Information Association the NLSA, a statutory body; the South African of South Africa (Liasa) Library for the Blind (SALB); Blind South Africa Libraries have always played a role in (Blind SA); public/community libraries; special education,whether school, academic, public or libraries; government libraries; and higher special libraries. education libraries. Where there are not enough school libraries, public libraries are largely bridging the gap. National Library of South Africa The concept of lifelong learning is one The NLSA was established after the merger embodied in all libraries, especially public and of the former State Library in Pretoria and the community libraries. former South African Library in Cape Town, and That any person, young or old, rich or poor, includes a specialist unit, the Centre for the Book employed or unemployed, can walk into a in Cape Town. library and find information (in both electronic The NLSA in Pretoria has seating capacity for and traditional formats) to educate and enrich 1 300 library users. themselves, is one of the major benefits of The NLSA offers free Internet access to users libraries. in Cape Town and Pretoria. National Library Week was celebrated in The Centre for the Book promotes the culture March 2014 under the theme “Celebrating of reading, writing and publishing in all official libraries in 20 years of democracy; check in @ languages of South Africa. your library.”

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National Council for Library and South African Library for the Blind Information Services (NCLIS) The SALB is a statutory organisation located in The NCLIS is an advisory council that advises the Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Its purpose is ministers of arts and culture, of basic education to provide, free of charge as far as is reasonably and of higher education and training on matters possible, a national LIS to serve blind and print- relating to LIS to support and stimulate the socio- handicapped readers in South Africa. economic, educational, cultural, re-creational, It is partly state-funded and depends for the scientific research, technological and information remainder of its financial needs on funds from development of all communities in the country. the private sector and the general public. The council is broadly representative and The SALB also produces documents in special councillors are appointed for their expertise and media such as Braille, audio and tactile formats. experience in the field of LIS. It develops standards for the production of such Members serve on the council for a renewable documents and researches production methods term of three years. and technology in the appropriate fields. Some important policy matters include the It also acquires, manufactures and development of the Library and Information disseminates the technology people with visual Services Transformation Charter, which aligns disabilities use to read. The SALB has five broad the role of libraries with the vision and strategic objectives, namely to significantly contribute framework of government; the training of towards: librarians; and the funding of the sector. • helping to build a nation of readers • assisting the organised blind community Legal Deposit Committee • improving the lives of individuals with print The Legal Deposit Committee was appointed in disabilities by meeting their information needs terms of the Legal Deposit Act of 1997, which is • helping the state to discharge its cultural administered by the DAC. mandate, and its obligations to blind and The committee members serve on the visually impaired people committee for a renewable term of three years. • assisting Africa’s development by providing The mandate of the Act includes: advice, expertise and documents in access- • providing for the preservation of the national ible formats for blind people and the institutions documentary heritage through the legal that serve their information needs. deposit of published documents The SALB has a membership of about 3 655 • ensuring the preservation and cataloguing people, an audio and Braille collection of more of, and access to, published documents than 25 600 books, and an annual circulation of emanating from, or adapted for, South Africa 133 222 books in Braille or audio format. • providing for access to government information. To make library services more accessible, The core functions of the Legal Deposit the SALB partners 82 public libraries providing Committee include: accessible reading material and assistive • advising the Minister on any matter dealt with devices. in this Act • making recommendations to the Minister Blind SA concerning any regulations which the Minister Blind SA is an organisation of the blind, governed may make under this Act by the blind, and is located in Johannesburg. • coordinating the tasks carried out by the It provides services for blind and partially places of legal deposit sighted individuals to uplift and empower them • advising any place of legal deposit regarding by publishing books, magazines and other any matter dealt with in this Act. documents in Braille. Blind SA provides: The places of legal deposit are: the NLSA; • study bursaries for blind and partially sighted the Library of Parliament in Cape Town; the students Mangaung Public Library in Bloemfontein; the • interest-free loans (for adaptive equipment) Msunduzi/Voortrekker Municipal Library in • information (including free Braille magazines) Pietermaritzburg; and the NFVSA in Pretoria. • assistance in finding sustainable employment The Act also provides for the establishment of • advocacy (to act as a pressure group for official publications depositories (OPDs), namely disability rights) the Constitutional Court Library in Johannesburg; • Braille publications at affordable prices in all Phuthaditjhaba Public Library in the Free State; the official languages the North West Provincial Library, Information • free Braille training (newly blind people or and Archives Service; and the Mpumalanga previously disadvantaged blind people) Library Services.

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• free orientation and mobility training (newly African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) blind people or previously disadvantaged blind The AWHF provides financial and technical people). support for the conservation and protection of Africa’s natural and cultural heritage of International relations outstanding universal value. The DAC’s participation in various activities The fund was established as a result of in the international cultural arena helps work undertaken by African member states of to identify, promote and exploit mutually Unesco, with the objective of developing an beneficial partnerships for social and economic ongoing strategy to deal with the challenges that development in South Africa. most African countries have in implementing the Together with the African Union (AU) and the World Heritage Convention. The AWHF is the first New Partnership for Africa’s Development, South regional funding initiative within the framework of Africa has embarked on the road to restoring, the Unesco World Heritage Convention. preserving and protecting its African heritage. The AWHF strives towards the effective The department ensures that South African conservation and protection of Africa’s natural talent takes its rightful place on the global stage, and cultural heritage. AWHF is aimed at AU and uses arts and culture as a tool for economic member states that signed the 1972 Unesco self-liberation. World Heritage Convention in support of these Bilateral agreements have been signed with goals. France, the UK, China, Cuba, India, New Zealand and many more. South Africa ratified the Convention on the Promotion and Protection of Cultural Diversity in 2006, becoming the 35th member country to do so. In the area of international cooperation on cultural development, the DAC is committed to promoting the African Agenda. The DAC continues to encourage and support initiatives to promote South African artists on the world stage. A priority in 2014 is the finalisation of the policy on cultural diplomacy, in partnership with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. Among others, the policy will result in the deployment of cultural attachés in South Africa’s diplomatic missions.

Indigenous music and oral history The International Library of African Music (ILAM), attached to the Music Department at Rhodes University, is the largest repository of African music in the world. Founded in 1954 by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracy, ILAM is devoted to the study of music and oral arts in Africa. It preserves thousands of historical recordings, going back to 1929, and supports contemporary fieldwork. The DAC has entered into partnerships with the universities of Venda, Fort Hare and Zululand to conduct research into indigenous music and instruments, as well as identifying and collecting all aspects of intangible cultural heritage in their provinces. The department and the African Cultural Heritage Fund promote indigenous music by hosting regional, provincial and national indigenous dance and music competitions.

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