The City of Cape Town is once again a title sponsor of the Suidoosterfees, an annual celebration of art and culture.
This year’s Suidoosterfees festival takes place at Artscape from 26-31 January.
“This is the fifth year of City involvement and sponsorship of the festival. It started off very small, but the extent of the City’s contribution has been escalating and in the last two years has become formalised, in terms of cash and services,” said Fritz Marx, Manager: Protocol & Events: Executive Mayor’s Office.
Marx said the City has made a cash contribution of R500 000 from its arts and culture grant-in-aid programme.
“The Executive Mayor’s Office has also budgeted an additional R300 000 for the printing of posters, pamphlets, the programme booklet, street flags, and services such as traffic, waste removal, and cleansing that are all linked to the festival.
“The rationale for the City’s contribution is that this is an inner city festival – there are not a lot of them around – and it has rejuvenated and created an economic incentive for this part of city. Also, it’s a very diverse festival – from performing arts to film to music to serious theatre. It promotes local talent.”
Marx said the opening ball of the festival is named the Mayor’s Ball, in recognition of the City’s role as one of the title sponsors.
Suidoosterfees marketing manager Irmgardt Bonze said the City is “very broadly involved” in not just funding, but also logistics, and helps make the festival happen.
She added that the festival planning is on track, and that they are “ready to go”.
The festival started in 2003. It is now a registered non-profit organisation, and has established itself as an annual event on the country’s arts and culture calendar.
The festival aims to celebrate and develop Western Cape Afrikaans culture and heritage, as well as encourage social diversity and national unity through Afrikaans. Its mission is to be affordable, accessible, and include all race, class, language, religious and age groups.
Ticket prices are kept below R100, but the festival still attracts artists of an international standard.
Dr Niel le Roux, CEO: Die Burger Suidoosterfees, said he is proud of this.
Part of the festival’s outreach includes bringing in farm workers and local gospel and choir groups from across the province.
It also seeks to offer opportunities to develop and nurture young and up-coming artists, and enables them to premiere new works.
The festival has grown remarkably since its inception, with attendance of nearly 20 000 people and ticket sales exceeding R500 000.
The festival features a line-up of entertainment including jazz, classical music, gospel music, theatre, comedy, films, visual arts, books and children’s entertainment.
Well-known stars such as David Kramer, Lira, Sandra Prinsloo, Amanda Strydom, Nomfusi, Alistair Izobell, Neels van Jaarsveld, Gary Naidoo and 7de laan stars, Vinette Ebrahim, Theodore Jantjies, Zane Meas, Christo Davids and Terence Bridgett, to name a few will perform.
For more information: http://www.suidoosterfees.co.za
Martin Pollack
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