PE Indaba 29-04-2015

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Editor: Bettie Giliomee

Local artists fed up with empty promises LIZEKA TANDWA

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RUSTRATIONS over ongoing investment in festivals not helping to develop local artists, have reached a boiling point in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Arts Council (NMBAC), which held a media briefing on Tuesday, said they would support their artists should they choose to boycott and protest against upcoming festivals. The press conference was held to introduce the NMBAC’s Creative Economic Programmes Investment Strategy. NMBAC Deputy Chairman, Martin Pram, said they were fed up and they would no longer accept any investment made by the city into any festival which does not develop local talent but rather profits people from other provinces or regions. In their Creative Economic Programmes Investment Strategy, the NMBAC say, they need R26 million investment by municipality to develop, promote and distribute various arts and culture programmes. “We will no longer keep quiet and watch money being earned by a few. We will no longer tolerate seeing events where 70% of profits and investment is taken outside of

the city. We want to create proper employment for our local artists,” said Pram. Pram, together with the NMBAC Chairman, Monde Ngonyama, said they had mixed feeling about the upcoming NMB Cultural Festival. They said it was first presented as a Municipal project by Executive Director for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Noxolo Nqwazi, only for them to find out from project director, Anele Mbasane, that the Municipality would have a minimal role in the festival. “We are confused about this festival, especially with regard to the dates of the Cultural Festival as it will clash with the National Arts Festival, a life blood of the Makana Municipality. We do not understand the message this festival (cultural festival) is sending. “We were hoping the Deputy Mayor, Chippa Ngcolomba, would provide leadership on this programme which he unfortunately has not. We will, however, engage with Ngcolomba, who has endorsed this festival, to get clarity on this and a few other matters including local artist involvement. We don’t want a situation were we alienate the Metro from the rest of the province,” said Ngonyama. Ngonyama said they did not understand the Metro having a minimal role in the cul-

tural festival, while the posters distributed at the launch had the logo of the Municipality. Ngonyama said they also felt that the national day celebration could be handled differently to better accommodate local arts. “The municipality does have the potential to support these programmes. These are painful debates we need to engage in. The Municipality has an outdated policy on events and its funding is subjective with zero fiscal and policy on arts and culture,” said Ngonyama. A frustrated Ngomyama said during the launch of the Mandela Film Festival on December 2014, which promised to showcase 400 films of international standard screened with local films added to the roster, has produced nothing for local development. “The Film festival promised to profile local artists and we are devastated that after sending in our proposals for locally produced films telling local stories, we have heard nothing. Of the 400 films that are said to be screened in the Metro this year, none of them, as far as we know, are from the Metro,” said Ngonyama. Ngonyama, who is also the General Manager at the Opera House, said the Opera House was becoming an urban legend as many promoters claim to have endorsement agreements with the Opera House in the

planned festivals. Ngonyama said the NMBAC will have an AGM on May 21, to decide on a new leadership and a newly designed structure if needs be. Nqwazi said while she encouraged dialogue on complaints from the NMBAC, there was a lot that had been done by her office during its short time. “We must understand that the NMBAC is a stakeholder of NMB council and as such, we have regular meetings with them where we table such issues. There is a lot of work to be done but the arts are not only a mandate of local governance but of provincial and national government. “The NMBAC was formed to address these problems and also broadly help artist from across the Metro,” she said.

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LoveLife turns youth into culture vultures

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PORT ELIZABETH

The young people of KwaNobuhle have no reason to loiter in the streets and do nothing with their time after school. They now have a creative outlet for all their energy at the Culture Set, a room set aside for arts and cultural activities at the LoveLife Youth Centre in KwaNobuhle. Showing their moves are the enthusiastic young boys and girls of The Nakanjani Immortal Saints hip hop group. Read the full story on page 5. PHOTO: NCEBA DLADLA

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