"We are currently shortlisting nominees, who will be announced on Women's Day, August 9," says Carol Bouwer, convenor of the awards in partnership with the National Department of Arts and Culture. "The 2015 Mbokodo Awards will be presented to the category winners on September 4 2015 in Johannesburg.
A new category for crafts has been introduced this year. The other categories are: indigenous art, promotion of language and storytelling, creative writing, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, fashion design and innovation, dance, opera, comedy, film, jazz, promotion of arts in the media and the Miriam Makeba Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nominees are selected using a peer review process, with input from a range of experts in the arts, culture and heritage sector, explains Bouwer. These include organised structures and associations related to each category; national and provincial departments of Arts and Culture; prominent individuals in the arts, culture and heritage sector; heads of arts departments in tertiary institutions; and arts journalists.
Founded in 2011 and launched in 2012, the Mbokodo Women in the Arts Awards are both a tribute to the generation of women who poured their strength and their creativity into the liberation struggle, and recognition of the tenacity and devotion required by women who make their mark in arts and culture today. The contribution of more than 65 women to SA's arts and culture has been recognised in the previous four years, including Sibongile Khumalo, the Mahotella Queens, Antjie Krog and Lira.
"These awards were initiated to fill our society's gap of a consolidated platform celebrating outstanding women in arts, culture and heritage in South Africa," says Bouwer. "Art was an important part of birthing our new democracy, with women such as Mama Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Nadine Gordimer and Letta Mbuli at the forefront of this movement."
The 2015 nominees announced on August 9 will certainly be inspiring women whose work continues to assist our proud nation in supporting the ideals for which we all queued in 1994, says Bouwer. Most of all, the Mbokodo Awards seek to inspire and empower women who wish to express themselves creatively. "Creative expression should be an individual right and it is vital that women make themselves heard, to give balance to the artistic and cultural voices contributing to our nation's social cohesion," says Bouwer. "Too often women's voices are silenced. Similarly, women may find it difficult to assert themselves and are marginalised in unpaid volunteer roles or part-time contracts.
"The creative genius of the plan for the Women's March nearly 60 years ago succeeded thanks to the hidden strength of women, underlined by the slogan they chose: 'Wathint' abafazi, wa thint' imbokodo' ("You strike a woman, you strike a rock.") The Mbokodo Awards commemorate those women who marched for helping to make South Africa a country where women can express themselves freely in our arts and cultural life."
