The Chairman of Business Arts South Africa, Mr. Sikkie Kajee
The Chief Executive Officer of BASA, Ms Michelle Constant
The Editor of Business Day, Mr Peter Bruce
Ms Premilla Hamid from Anglo American
Representatives of the business community
Our artists
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to be here with you this evening, for the 13th annual Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) awards. On behalf of the Department of Arts and Culture, I would like to thank all our partners in the private sector who have for many years supported the arts in our country.
On this important occasion we also wish to applaud the work done by Business and Arts South Africa to encourage mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts. Through its work, Business and Arts South Africa continues to secure the future development of the arts, by facilitating greater involvement of the private sector in the arts. We are encouraged that the projects initiated by the partnerships facilitated through BASA have enriched the lives of many South Africans and have also benefited the companies that supported them.
Programme Director, supporting the arts speaks of a social consciousness far beyond the usual profit making motive often characteristic of the private sector. It reveals a sense of responsibility and in many ways it reveals a sense of concern for humanity. This we say because arts and culture are an expression of the human condition.
Furthermore, the arts have an important contribution to make towards ongoing efforts to grow our economy, create jobs and fight poverty. It is for this reason that as the Department of Arts and Culture we are engaging our colleagues in government to ensure that the arts, culture and heritage sector is accorded the necessary recognition as a significant contributor to economic growth and job creation.
We trust that our partners in the private sector will support us in this endeavor, so that together we can unleash the potential of this sector as a contributor to the development of our economy. As government we are committed to use resources at our disposal to leverage private sector investment into strategic sectors of the economy, including in the arts, culture and heritage sector.
We look forward to engaging with all stakeholders with a view to finding creative ways of strengthening the involvement of the private sector in funding the arts.
Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s Business and Arts South Africa awards and I wish you well in your endeavors.
Thank you.
