Based on last year’s inaugural run in the city, Durban has been established as the home of Loeries Creative Week and is set to host the creative festival for the rest of this three-year cycle, as the ideal venue for a week-long celebration of everything that inspires and brings us together. It’s an opportunity for the many faces of creativity across the region to come together to dialogue, share, and inspire one another.

Donovan Goliath as Loeries’ creative voice

Shifting the focus from those many creative faces to unmasking just one, popular comedian Donovan Goliath has just been announced as the first ever Loeries Creative Voice. It’s a fitting choice as he’s actively embedded in the industry – his day job is creative director at Goliath and Goliath agency. But this creative found out he’d been selected as Loeries Creative Voice while wearing his ‘funny man hat’, through a phone call while backstage hosting a corporate function. “Once they told me the news I went back to the function with some other kind of high energy. I’m very excited about it,” he says, as the Loeries is the highest accolade for creativity, not only in SA but the whole of Africa and the Middle East. Everyone wants to be part of because it’s “the most recognised platform of creative recognition and inspiration.”

Goliath shows us his 'serious creative' face...

That excitement and greater understanding of creativity is exactly what will stand Goliath in good stead as this year’s Loeries Creative Voice in an ongoing segment on YFM, interviewing different ‘creative faces’ and discussing aspects of creativity. He plans on “chatting creativity as a whole,” explaining that the segment is going to be fun and relaxed, with interviewees ranging from musicians to rappers, music video directors, Instagrammers, those in the fashion industry and others he considers “creative left-field thinkers.” He adds that he’ll open up the segment to more than just the traditional avenues as the arts and creativity are misunderstood and underappreciated in this country.

In doing so, he’ll be breaking boundaries and exposing YFM’s youth audience to both creative individuals and fields that they might not otherwise be aware of. That’s fitting as this year’s campaign is about uniting all spheres of brand communication. When asked about the Loeries role in brand communication, Goliath elaborates that the Loeries’ specific standout quality is the fact that work showcased at the awards is always of the highest quality and is across all fields. “High quality design across the board never gets the shine and appreciation it deserves. This platform provided by the Loeries, is the one place to experience it.”

Boost creativity by getting out of the box (literally)

Touching on that “boundary breaking, creativity-promoting angle”, I asked Goliath what he thinks creatives should do when they feel stuck in a rut, as a teaser of what we can expect from his YFM segment.

He responded that the best bet is to take a break from what you're working on and apply your mind to something else for a while. He personally likes to doodle anything that pops into his head, but others “like to go for a walk, go to the gym or run down the street wearing nothing but a Darth Vader mask. OK, that last one is a lie. I think just stop concentrating on it so hard, stop trying too hard to think outside the box and just get back into it for a bit.”

It’s that exact mix of wisdom and humour that made him the top choice as this year’s Loeries Creative Voice. Visit the Loeries website for more and keep your finger on that creative pulse in the build-up to this year’s Loeries Creative Week, taking place in Durban from 15 to 21 August, by visiting our Loeries special section. For special insights don’t miss the “Loeries Creative Voice with Donovan Goliath” segment on YFM, running from 15:33 to 15:47 on 13, 20 and 27 April as well as 4, 11 and 18 May 2016.