Business and Arts South Africa's Boardbank reaps rewards for arts organisations in Cape Town

From the Hip: Khulumakahle (FTH:K) company director, Tanya Surtees, reports that her short presentation at the October 28th event elicited interest from a business professional and the theatre company is now in the process of appointing a new board member.

"Obviously we have to follow our corporate governance procedures in the appointment. But we are confident that it will happen soon and we look forward to the insight and skills that this new board member will bring," says Surtees.

"We were not aware of the impact Boardbank would make on FTH:K when we first learnt of the programme, but we are really pleased at the outcome."

Created several years ago, Business and Arts South Africa's Boardbank matches not-for-profit arts and cultural organisations with suitably qualified business professionals who can voluntarily serve on their Boards. This enables the organisations to fulfill their governance requirements, while also securing the necessary expertise at a strategic board level. In this two-way relationship, the arts sector is more sustainable by improving corporate governance, while providing business professionals with the opportunity to expand their own Social Investment (SI) responsibility within the arts sector.

The inaugural Western Cape BASA Boardbank event was held in partnership with Business and Arts South Africa members, Misael Gallery and Ifraternity - a recruitment and transformation strategy consulting agency specialising in the placement of black professionals. "Introducing our affluent professionals to the world of the arts and encouraging them to add value is priceless," comments Ifraternity MD, Kgomotso Selokane.

Around 50 professionals attended the event that saw presentations by representatives of three Western Cape-based organisations - Lorraine Tanner from the Jungle Theatre, Elise Brunelle of Cape Town Opera and FTH:K's Tanya Surtees. BASA member, Spier, also supported the event.

Business and Arts South Africa's Western Cape representative, Thessa Bos, says the BASA Boardbank event fulfilled a pressing need in the region.

"Over the past year we have had many requests from arts organisations for assistance in sourcing Board directors. The fact that we had such excellent presentations from the three organisations and such a strong presence from business professionals, shows that there is a good understanding of the mutual benefit and opportunity in the arts. The networking opportunity was also a very important feature of the event."

Irma Albers, Arts & Culture Controller at Distell Ltd and a BASA Mentor describes the BASA Boardbank programme as "a great initiative". "A Board can add so much value to an organisation as well as bring credibility to its activities and facilitate working towards a sustainable plan".

"When individuals volunteer their time and expertise to serve on a board it also means they really want to make a difference and such a person will
walk a long and challenging road with an organisation because they have a passion and believe in what that organisation does and stand for."

If you are an arts organisation or business professional interested in opportunities with BASA's Boardbank, please email az.oc.asab@ofni or call on 011-832-3000/3039.