BASA supports the National Arts Festival in skills development

BASA's relationship with the National Arts Festival is aimed at helping strengthen the festival - which in turn strengthens the opportunity for individual performance.

Over the past four years, the most visible manifestation of BASA's role within the National Arts Festival has been the annual Hands On! Masks Off! Workshops, designed to impart professional business knowledge and skills to arts practitioners.

The Hands On! Masks Off! series of workshops (this year presented with support from the SA Post Office) are aimed at empowering and enhancing the skills development of artists.

This year the programme has been reinvigorated to include new elements, among them appointing a number of professional advisors who will mentor participants in the student theatre festival throughout its duration. The workshops will cover an extensive and crucial landscape taking in everything from strategies for business success, the use of social media to boost careers, and how to position arts organisations within the corporate funding world.

"This is crucial as they increasingly engage with funding and the business world," says Michelle Constant, CEO of Business and Arts South Africa.

The importance of bringing the business and arts nexus into the National Arts Festival environment is confirmed by the festival's CEO, Tony Lancaster.

"Like BASA, we are passionate about what the arts and events within our festival can do for brands and businesses," Lancaster states.

"Building sponsorship and corporate involvement in a way that doesn't compromise the artistic integrity of projects and arts practitioners is crucial to a sustained arts environment in South Africa. BASA's involvement across many different levels of the 2012 festival plays a very important role in turning that into a reality."

In addition to the presence at the festival of organisations that have received BASA's supporting grants or those that receive ongoing mentorship through BASA's mentorship program in association with Etana BASA has in 2012 also stepped up its presence at the festival through its continued engagement with Cue Magazine over the festival period, as part of a concerted effort to grow, develop and nurture quality arts journalism in South Africa.

BASA's Michelle Constant commented "We're also very pleased to be part of supporting Cue Magazine's activities this year we believe endorsement of the arts comes through skilled arts journalism."