2007 Business Day/BASA nominees
The 10th series of the Business Day/Business & Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards reflects a growing awareness within the corporate sector, both of the inherent value of the arts to society at all levels, and of the business argument for supporting the arts, according to the organisers. The nominees have just been announced and the awards will be presented on Monday, 4 June 2007, at the Alexander Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Recipients will be those businesses deemed most successful in achieving their objectives and, through this, benefiting the arts in South Africa. The judging panel includes Darryl Accone, Gordon Cook, Linda Givon, Andrew Human, Gianni Mariano, Sizakele Marutlulle, Ivan May, Fiona Ramsay, Peter Vundla and Annie Williamson. The voting process was monitored and audited by Grant Thornton.
Nominees
In the category Best Use of a Commission of New Art, which recognises those sponsors who have had the vision to support the creation of new, original work in any arts medium and to use the commission effectively, nominations go to:
Nominated in the First Time Sponsor category are Mogalakwena River Lodge for Synergy Contemporary Bead Art Exhibition; Noah Financial Innovation for Rainforest Project Room at Gordart Gallery and The South African Police Service for Motswedi Literary Competition (The Well); The Sunday Times for The Sunday Times Heritage Project and Vida e Caffe Holdings for Guerrilla Project.
Increasing Access to the Arts focuses on those sponsors who have helped bring the arts to people who might not otherwise have access to them. Nominees are Beiersdorf Consumer Projects for The Nivea Gallery at the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts (KZNSA); Edgars for Edgars Music Series at the Bassline Jazz Club; Silke Financial Services for Ikwezi Art Centre; Universal Print Group for Awesome Africa Music Festival and Vulindlela Communications for VC Netwox Book Club.
The International Sponsorship category recognises those businesses sponsoring SA arts abroad, or bringing an international arts project into SA, giving our public access to work it would not normally see. The nominees are BHP Billiton for Ifa Lethu Foundation; Old Mutual Life Assurance Company SA for The Baxter Theatre production of Hamlet in SA and UK and Standard Bank of SA for Picasso and Africa.
Nominations for Long Term Development – a category designed to recognise companies that have not only committed to but developed sponsorship of an arts organisation or project over three or more years – go to Deutsche Bank for Little Artists Programme; the Hollard Group for Spier Arts Trust – the Spier Summer Season; PPC (Pretoria Portland Cement Co.) for Owl House Foundation and Smuts Cottage and Sanlam for Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature.
Nominations for Media Sponsorship, for consistent support given by electronic or print media to the arts go to Die Beeld (Media24) for Aardklop National Arts Festival; Die Burger (Media24) for Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) and The Natal Witness Printing and Publishing Company for The Witness Hilton Arts Festival.
The category Single Project focuses on an outstanding sponsorship or a series of projects with one organisation, and the nominees are Barloworld Limited for Buskaid; Bell Dewar & Hall for Artist Proof Studio; Levi Strauss South Africa for Levi's Young Guns and MTN for Messages and Meaning Exhibition.
Smaller companies with 1200 full-time employees and an annual turnover of no more than R10million, who give vital support to arts projects, fall into the category Sponsorship by a Small Business. Nominees are Mogalakwena River Lodge for Synergy Contemporary Bead Art Exhibition; Nashua Maritzburg for Art in the Park; Pinpoint one human resources for Artist Proof Studio and Vulindlela Communications for VC Netwox Book Club & World Press Photography Exhibition.
Nominations in the category Sponsorship in Kind, where a company gives non-financial but essential support to the arts, go to Classicfeel magazine for Young Women Artists 2006; Deneys Reitz for pro bono legal advise to various arts projects; Fine Music Radio for supporting various arts and culture organizations with air time and promotion and Sigodi Marah Martin for SHiFT Student Housing Design Competition.
The Strategic Sponsorship category looks at the best use of a sponsorship programme as an integral part of the sponsor's overall marketing strategy. Nominated are Absa Bank for Absa Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK); Old Mutual South Africa for Old Mutual Encounters and Sanlam for Sanlam SA Fashion Week.
One of the most popular areas for arts sponsorship is that which involves education and/or young people. In the category Youth Sponsorship, the nominees are Cell C for Durban Music School; Levi Strauss for Levi's Young Guns; Sanlam for Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature and Unilever South Africa for Young Performers.
The Chairman's Premier Award is made annually at the discretion of the chairman of BASA and will be awarded at the presentation.
Nominees for the second Barloworld Mentor of the Year Award are:
- Gale Lemmert, Barloworld for National Children's Theatre Trust
- Pamela Grayman, Grant Thornton for Ballet Theatre Afrikan
- Amanda Roche, Nedbank for The Johannesburg Youth Orchestra;
- Irma Albers, Distell for from the hip:Khulumakahle and
- Gary Ninow, Businessclinic for The Umcebo Trust.
The awards were launched for business sponsors of the arts in this country in 1997, to recognise and highlight businesses that make effective and innovative use of arts sponsorship and, in so doing, lift the profile of the arts.
