This year, Standard Bank celebrates 35 years of sponsoring the Standard Bank Young Artist (SBYA) awards.
The 2019 winners continue to prove that the creative fire that fuelled their predecessors in the 1980s burns just as fiercely in the current generation of artists.
Each of the latest exceptional young artists will receive a cash incentive, as well as a commission to premiere a new work or exhibit on the main programme of the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) next year.
Desiree Pooe, the bank’s head of sponsorships, says: “Over the 35 years of Standard Bank’s sponsorship, the Standard Bank Young Artist awards have been regarded as an illustrious accolade that takes pride of place on any artist’s CV.
“We value and appreciate the prestige that the award holds in the local and international art community and take our role as sponsors very seriously. “It is a great honour for us to recognise and reward these artists for their talent, and to contribute to moving their careers forward. We continually strive to support South Africa’s creative economy by elevating their craft.”
The 2019 young artists join a long list of illustrious SBYA alumni who have attained creative and professional heights over the years. Since 1981, the winners have included Sibongile Khumalo, William Kentridge, Mbongeni Ngema, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Johnny Clegg, Vincent Mantsoe, Gregory Maqoma, Janice Honeyman, Helen Sebidi, Lara Foot, Darrell Roodt, Robyn Orlin, Jerry Mofokeng, Andrew Buckland, Sam Nhlengethwa and Marthinus Basson.
He is a jazz trumpeter and composer who has become a popular fixture on local and international stages since being selected for the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band in 2006. A gifted band leader, Mlangeni has carved out a name for himself with various bands and ensembles, including the Amandla Freedom Ensemble, with which he has released two albums.
She is a senior soloist and choreographer at Joburg Ballet. She has toured and performed extensively on stages across the world. A career highlight was dancing The Dying Swan solo for Nelson Mandela and the Dutch royal family, but one of her most noteworthy recent performances was her Queen Modjadji-inspired Rain Dance for Cape Town, in situ at the then-parched Theewaterskloof Dam.
He is a pianist whose prodigious talent was evident early on – he had performed with all South Africa’s major orchestras by the age of 14. Today, while studying for his doctorate in music in Cleveland, the US, Prins traverses the world as a solo performer and chamber musician, often returning home for concerts, teaching engagements and community outreach initiatives.
She is a playwright who has also built a reputation as a filmmaker, activist, and academic. A champion of theatre by and for women, she has been a driving force in local and global initiatives promoting opportunities for women playwrights. Aside from her theatre work, she wrote the script for the film Ellen – The Ellen Pakkies Story and is editing a collection of plays by African women.
She is a multidisciplinary artist who is known for sensitively negotiating complex social concerns in her work, particularly relating to gender-based and sexual violence. Among this PhD candidate’s long-term performance projects is her Elegy series, where each iteration marks the absence of a woman or LGBTQI+ individual who has been raped and killed in South Africa.
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