Naledi Theatre Awards elects new CEO
Newly elected CEO Lihan Pretorius brings to the table a wealth of experience.
The Naledi Theatre Awards (NTA) board elected Lihan Pretorius as the new CEO during its meeting early this year.
Pretorius was sworn in to continue where the late Dawn Lindberg left off after her death late last year. Pretorius brings a wealth of experience to the role. He is a lawyer by profession, a performer, director and producer.
He has worked closely with Dawn on matters pertaining to the awards, both administratively and creatively, as he was the assistant creative director of the awards ceremonies for the past couple of years.
Board member and spokesperson of NTA Chris Smith said in a statement, “Dawn, on many occasions, expressed her fervent wish that the NTA would continue once she was gone.
“Nobody, let alone Dawn, expected it to be so sudden and so soon. In typical Dawn fashion, she had a very strong and defined succession plan in place, a plan that had already been implemented when she semi-retired to her dream home in Plett at the end of 2019.
“In recent years, she strengthened the capacity of the Naledi board, identified her successor and created a management committee to work alongside her and to gradually take over the onerous administrative functions of the awards.”
Changes brought by Covid-19
Smith said the theatre has continued to adapt to the ever-changing conditions in the theatre landscape, despite the reduced number of productions due to the lockdown.
The 2021 awards ceremony will go ahead as usual and will provisionally cover the period of January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.
He explained that going forward, the annual awards period for the year under review will run from July 1 to June 30, of any given year, meaning they will start on July 1 this year.
“The nomination announcement and awards ceremony for the 2020 season will take place during the third quarter of 2021. The dates will be announced soon. It will hopefully be a live event or online like last year’s awards ceremony,” said Smith.
Covid-19 has decimated the industry, which forced many people in the arts to re-invent themselves and their craft.
Many theatre practitioners have looked at innovative ways of continuing their work and performing during this strange and difficult time.
What is new?
“We have introduced a special new category, which will only run for the duration of lockdown. This category is called Volt (Video Online Theatre). Only filmed productions that were shot specifically for online audiences, produced during the lockdown and not performed before a live audience are eligible for this category.
“If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please visit the Naledi Facebook page or the Naledi website for details,” said Smith.
Although the NTA has lost its founder and guiding light, the awards will continue in Dawn’s honour and as the ultimate theatre awards that acknowledge excellence in the performing arts nationally.
