State must nurture ‘golden economy’ and mine arts festival
THE past 11 days saw another bigger and better edition of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.What a spectacle it was to see 2,500 productions of some of the most talented South Africans currently plying their craft.I was only able to sample about four or five of these a day last week, straddling comedy, drama, music and dance, among other genres on display. Grahamstown, still so inexplicably named, is the capital of South Africa’s arts and culture scene and has been for the past 40 years.I am baffled that we have not made a meal of this amazing event. We have come to take it for granted. With our rich culture and heritage this is one event that continues to be a gauge of where we are in the social cohesion stakes. The picture is uneven. Some of the productions had lily-white audiences and others, relatively mixed ones.No surprises that the Seshego Gospel Choir had an almost 100% black audience, while the performance of The African Piano by a white South African living in New ...
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