Support of the arts made easy by innovative online B-BBEE SED initiative

The BASA | Middel & Partners SED Programme provides a simplified on-line platform for businesses to maximise their SED points on their B-BBEE scorecard.

Running for close to a year now, the BASA | Middel & Partners SED Programme was created by Business and Arts South Africa, and Middel & Partners, a business consulting and auditing firm that is also an IRBA approved B-BBEE service provider. Since launching in 2013, the programme has already been used by a number of South African businesses, both large and small.

Backed by the technology of an online ticketing system Tixsa, the online initiative takes the form of a simplified platform that enables businesses, at the click of a button, to support three arts projects.

These are Drama For Life, Africa's leader in the interdisciplinary approach to Applied Drama, Drama in Education and Drama in Therapy; Sibikwa Arts Centre, which focuses on art education, vocational training and job creation; and the Keiskamma Art Project, which is based in the Peddie South District of the Eastern Cape and enjoys a strong track-record of innovative and multi-faceted community development projects

In allowing businesses to channel their B-BBEE socio-economic development contributions towards arts and culture, The BASA | Middel & Partners SED Programme enables businesses to comply with the BEE Act - in particular the promotion of black people' sustainable access to the economy through the contribution of 1% of their profits to socio-economic development.

In addition, businesses' contributions to arts and culture through this programme will also qualify as socio-economic development contributions under the BEE Act, through an impact on the sustainable economic participation of artists, musicians and actors.

With Middel & Partners providing the B-BBEE expertise, Tixsa ensuring a secure online payment system and BASA playing a central role in accessing sustainable and robust arts and culture projects that have 75% or more black beneficiaries, the BASA | Middel & Partners SED Programme is an important mechanism for South African businesses to be both compliant and contribute to the arts sector.

For further information please contact call 011 447 2295 or email az.oc.asab@ofni

To make a contribution go to www.basa.co.za

About BASA (NPC):

Business and Arts South Africa is an internationally recognised development agency which incorporates the arts into, and contributes to, corporates' commercial success. With a suite of integrated programmes, Business and Arts South Africa encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts in order to grow SHARED VALUE. Business and Arts South Africa was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of government and the business sector, as a public/private partnership.