National Arts Festival

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The National Arts Festival (NAF), formerly the Grahamstown Festival , is the largest arts festival in Africa . It takes place annually in Makhanda - until 2018 Grahamstown - in South Africa .

description

The festival takes place at the end of June / beginning of July and lasts eleven days. It is modeled on the Edinburgh Festival . In addition to the main program , the Fringe Festival (literally "Rand Festival") takes place. Both events are organized by the independent, non-profit National Arts Festival Office . Acting, visual arts, music and dance are on offer, as well as an exhibition of handicrafts. Tours of historic Grahamstown are also part of the program. There is also the Children's Arts Festival , the National Youth Jazz Fest , the Think! Fest with panel discussions and, since 2011, the Fingo Festival in Fingo Village . The around 90 event locations include theaters, churches and schools. The central point is the house belonging to the settler monument (see below) with 900 seats. There are around 2000 performances of over 600 different events. The Fringe Festival is roughly the same size as the main program, but is open to all artists. Most of the artists are South Africans.

The NAF regularly counts over 200,000 visitors, called festinos . The average length of stay for external visitors in 2016 was six days.

Every year, the Standard Chartered Bank presents Young Artist Awards to young South African artists in the fields of music, drama, dance, jazz, visual arts and other ( e.g. performance artists). Fringe productions can be awarded the Standard Bank Ovation Award .

The NAF is part of the World Fringe Alliance .

history

The festival was first held in 1974 when a memorial to the British " Settlers of 1820 " was inaugurated at the venue . The festival did not take place in 1975, but has taken place regularly since 1976. The festival was open to all population groups even during the apartheid period . While 64 different events were offered in 1974, the number rose rapidly, to around 350 in 2010. Since 2002 the festival has been organized by the National Arts Festival Office . The NAF regularly counts over 200,000 visitors.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grahamstown National Arts Festival at sa-venues.com (English), accessed on September 18, 2018
  2. ↑ a b c NAF Social Report (2016) at nationalartsfestival.co.za (English; PDF), accessed on September 19, 2018
  3. ↑ Official website , accessed on September 18, 2018
  4. ↑ Think! Fest: a fascinating fest for your brain. nationalartsfestival.co.za from June 13, 2016, accessed on September 18, 2018
  5. ↑ a b c d e About. nationalartsfestival.co.za, accessed September 18, 2018