Behind the Main programme of the 2017 National Arts Festival, which will be held in Grahamstown from 29 June to 9 July, is a 20-member Artistic Committee, experts in their fields who have been invited to collaborate and give input into creating a programme that is reflective of South Africa, aiming to challenge as well as entertain new and established audiences.

Work from both within and outside South Africa was considered, with the following criteria in mind: the artistic merits of the submission; the creation of a varied and balanced programme; and the costs involved.

THEATRE

The members of this genre’s sub-committee are:

• Lara Bye – director, producer and educator
• Greg Homann – director, independent academic and playwright
• Mwenya Kabwe – director, theatre maker, actress and facilitator
• Warona Seane – performer, director and writer (Convenor 2017)

“South Africa’s longstanding theatre tradition of creating new work that disrupts, challenges, and questions is alive and well. An unexpected connection across the theatre selection appears to be a fascination with bones, specifically how bones, as metaphor, can speak to South Africa’s ongoing need to come to terms with its troubled past.” – Greg Homann

DANCE

The members of this genre’s sub-committee are:

• Lliane Loots – choreographer and dance lecturer at the UKZN School of the Arts
• Gregory Vuyani Maqoma – dancer, choreographer, director, and scriptwriter (Convenor 2017)
• Tracey Saunders – arts critic and writer

“Social orders are at the core of the 2017 National Arts Festival Dance Programme, with some of the works responding directly to the theme of the art of disruption while in other works the theme is already embedded in the choreographer’s personal artistic aesthetics. The balance of power is shifting on a global scale – past events and, certainly, recent events bear testimony to something brewing under the surface and our art opens a window for reflection, to pause for a moment. In my selection, the focus has been first on South African artists producing by themselves or in collaboration with artists on the continent, focusing on the urgency to respond to the theme of disruption. The result is a programme that is curious, furious and a poetic game of different aesthetics, contexts and languages, oscillating between perception and attribution, between history and that is current and urgent.”  – Gregory Vuyani Maqoma

MUSIC

This members of this genre’s sub-committee are:

• Richard Cock – musician and conductor
• Samson Diamond – appointed leader of the Odeion String Quartet at the University of the Free State and concertmaster of the Free State Symphony Orchestra (Convenor 2017)
• Atiyyah Khan – arts journalist, DJ and co-founder of music collective Future Nostalgia
• Patrick Tikolo – performer (baritone), senior lecturer and head of the Vocal Division at the South African College of Music at UCT
• Alan Webster – director of the Standard Bank Jazz Festival (Convenor 2017)

“The selection of music presentations on the Main programme is an eclectic combination of performance styles drawn from some of the most exciting musicians in South Africa. The music breaks through the boundaries of traditional form and offers a new interpretation with Baroqueswing by the Charl Du Plessis Trio. A contemporary and multimedia feature from electric violinist Naomi Tagg; and a reverence by pianist Liza Joubert, to mark the centenary of the death of Scott Joplin, the “King of Ragtime”. Not swaying too far from tradition, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra returns to the Festival to present a symphonic concert to nourish the purist palate, and to present the popular Gala Concert conducted by maestro Richard Cock. This year showcases the immensely talented and versatile cellist 2017 Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, Abel Selaocoe, who will present an exciting programme from Debussy to Jewish Klezmer. As Featured Artist, the extraordinary Neo Muyanga will feature across the disciplines as composer and performer. This year’s Festival in the music genre aims to challenge and broaden the spectrum, without diluting the Festival’s theme, and, while working within very tight financial constraints, it offers a truly remarkable selection for a great musical discourse. – Samson Diamond

VISUAL ART

The members of this genre’s sub-committee are:

• Ruth Simbao – Associate Professor in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University
• Mandie van der Spuy – art consultant, former Head of Arts Sponsorships for the Standard Bank Group
• Ernestine White – artist, curator and project manager (Convenor 2017)

“As the 2017 curator for the visual arts programme, my selection has been guided by the selected visual and performance artists nuanced interpretations of the Festival’s theme of ‘disruption’. At the core of the programme is the desire to unpack and showcase how these artists have chosen to actively engage and disrupt the prevailing colonial narratives that continue to impact on how we as (South) Africans relate to each other; interrogate received and forgotten histories in relation to landscape and identity; and to highlight the (in)visibility of women’s narratives in the context of public and private spaces.  Working within the genres of painting, sculpture performance, and installation, these contemporary artists explore intimate narratives that speak of personal and collective history, trauma, shame, loss and power relations. Lastly, it is hoped that the works presented this year will serve as platforms to unpack the dynamics of the contemporary lived experience.” – Ernestine White

FILM

Trevor Steele-Taylor has been curating film festivals since the 1970s, and he has a special interest in South African cinema. He is the curator of this year’s Film Festival.

THINK!FEST

This series of debates, conversations and lectures is convened by Anthea Garman (associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University) and managed by Kate Davies (Festival Manager). This year, Think!Fest has been co-curated by the University of Johannesburg’s Arts & Culture Division and Drama For Life at the University of the Witwatersrand.

• The chair of the Artistic Committee is theatre maker Brett Bailey.

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