Business sponsorship awards nominations open

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 ABSA for the commissioning of four new SA plays, premiered at Aardklop Festival; Rand Merchant Bank for The Thinkers; and Sandton Central Management District for Sandton Central Illumination Project “The Why Men”.

Nominated in the First Time Sponsor category are Coal Stove Productions for ‘Off the Shelf'; Intel Corporation for Intel Centrino Roadshow; Talk Radio 702 for Africa Remix; and Tsogo Sun for Teatro and the South Africa premiere of The Lion King.

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 Cell C for Cell C Gospel Festival; Distell for Takeaway Theatre's ‘Die Liefdeskind'; Exclusive Books for Homebru; Fairheads Trust Company for the Clanwilliam Arts Development Project; and Standard Bank Limpopo for ‘Double 07' art exhibition in Polokwane.

International

The International Sponsorship category recognises those businesses sponsoring South African arts and cultural activities abroad, or bringing an international arts project into South Africa, giving our public access to work it would not normally see. The nominees are Mercedes Benz SA (Pty) Ltd for the annual Mercedes Benz Arts Award; Rand Merchant Bank for The Magic Flute; and Telkom SA Limited for The Lion King.

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 3 or more years - go to MTN for the MTN Art Collection Project; Nando's SA for Art in Nando's restaurants; Pick n Pay for The Zama Dance School in Gugulethu; Spier Holdings (The Africa Centre) for the Spier Contemporary; and Standard Bank for the Standard Bank African Art Collection at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Nominations for Media Sponsorship, for consistent support given by electronic or print media to the arts, go to Die Burger for Die Burger Suidoosterfees 2007; Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd for The Mercury Durban Theatre Awards; Kaap-Rapport for the Kaap-Raaport Korekompetisie at the Suidoosterfees; and Talk Radio 702 for Africa Remix.

Outstanding

The category Single Project focuses on an outstanding sponsorship or a series of projects with one organisation, and the nominees are Bell Dewar & Hall for Artist Proof Studio; Rand Merchant Bank for The Magic Flute; and Sandton Central Management District for the Sandton Central Illumination Project “The Why Men”.

Smaller companies with 1-200 full-time employees and an annual turnover of no more than R10 million, who give vital support to arts projects, fall into the category Sponsorship by a Small Business. Nominees are Coal Stove Productions for “Off the Shelf”; Intdev Internet Technologies for Night of a Thousand Drawings; and Zetasatsi Trading Services cc for Masakhane Arts and Culture Youth Festival.

Nominations in the category Sponsorship in Kind, where a company gives non-financial but essential support to the arts, go to Deneys Reitz Inc. for pro bono work with arts and cultural organisations; Fine Music Radio 101.3 for Camera Tinta Barocca Music Charitable Trust; Primi World for Primi Live; and Vukile Property Fund (Ltd) for the National Eisteddfod Academy Di Konokono Festival.

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 Cell C for Cell C Gospel Festival; Exclusive Books for Homebru; and Intel Corporation for Intel Centrino Roadshow.

Youth education

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 Black Like Me for Field Band Foundation; Santam Limited for Santam Child Art; Standard Bank for the Standard Bank National Schools Festival of Drama and Arts; TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris for Room 13; and Total SA (Pty) Ltd for Sibikwa Community Theatre.

The Chairman's Premier Award for sustained and innovative contribution to the arts is made annually at the discretion of the Chairman of Business and Arts South Africa and will be awarded at the presentation.

The Barloworld Mentor of the Year Award is in its third year, and the panellists felt that the work being done by these business men and women was both an extraordinarily valuable intervention, contributing to organisations skills base. Nominees for the second Barloworld Mentor of the Year Award are: Gillian Crawford mentoring Kim Berman/Cara Walters at Artist Proof Studio; Eugenie Drakes mentoring Tricia Sibbons at the Trevor Huddleston Centre; Krisen Govender mentoring Phyllis Klotz of Sibikwa Community Theatre; Carlton Hood mentoring Valmont Layne of District Six Museum; Gail Lemmert mentoring Joyce Levinsohn at the National Childrens Theatre; Gordon Massie mentoring Ruth Rensburg of The Africa Centre; Gary Ninow mentoring Robin Opperman of The Umcebo Trust; Gregory David Wallis mentoring Gugu Msimang, Bonga Bhengu and Karen Monk-Klijnstra of Ifa Lethu Heritage Collection; and Carolynne Waterhouse mentoring Karen Beukes, Ian Macdonald and Fiona Budd, the directors of the South African Ballet Theatre.

The awards will be presented on Monday, 26 May 2008 at the Johannesburg Park Station, to 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, Andrew Human, Clive Grinaker, Gianni Mariano, Sizakele Marutlulle, Ivan May, Welcome Msomi, Fiona Ramsay, Peter Vundla, and Annie Williamson. The voting process was monitored and audited by Grant Thornton.