The Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, through its Museum Services, took part in full force at the National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown from 30 June to 10 July 2016, exhibiting and profiling Museums and Heritage sites found in the Free State province such as the Wesleyan Church, National Afrikaans Literature Museum, Mapikela House, Sesotho Literary Museum and many others.
Crafters:
The department took10 Free State Crafters to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown to exhibit their products. Earlier in the year these crafters were selected and assisted to create more stock of their products to ensure that they can sustain sales for the duration of the 11 day festival. The crafters were placed all over the Village Green Flea Market to ensure optimal exposure to sales.
Once again it was interesting to see what members of the public preferred to buy. One Free State crafter made woven grass hats and made a few with horns at the top.
These hats with horns sold so quickly that he had to modify all hats to include horns at the top.
Visual Artist:
The department took six visual artists to the National Arts Festival along with their artwork to be exhibited and sold. Though visual art is not neccesarily a commercial commodity, Free State artists managed to make sales nonetheless. One of the visual artists brought a few small sketches of simple country scenes which sold like hot cakes.
A publisher walked past and insisted that the department should connect them with these artists because they want to use his sketches as illustrations for their new book.
Theatre:
The department assisted two Free State theatre productions at the National Arts Festival. Paleho is all about the initiation of young teenage girls. The National Arts Festival evaluates each play per day and on one of these days Paleho was rated as one of the top 3 theatre productions of that day – they won a Standing Ovation nomination for that day. Paleo is invited to play at an Australian Arts Festival later this year.
Masechaba the Poetess is a theatre production about a Poetess whom the Police believe has such a strong following in the local community that she can spark an uprise with her Poems. They believe that she can be a potential threat to the local establishment and therefore they take her into custody where she is later murdered.
The production deals with a heavy subject but the Director cleverly has certain light hearted moments which breaks the immense tension a bit. “In an effort to promote local talent, and as part of the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation’s ongoing talent development programs, several Free State performers and artists took part in the National Arts Festival.
Enquiries:
Barry Swanepoel
Cell: 082 417 7108
Tel: 051 407 2932
E-mail: barry@sacr.fs.gov.za /sacrbarry@gmail.com
