Act commemorates their historic 25th milestone
JOBURG – The Arts and Culture Trust (Act) has announced the official commencement of its 25th anniversary celebrations since it was established in 1994 – in the new South Africa.
The Arts and Culture Trust (Act) has announced the official commencement of its 25th anniversary celebrations since it was established in 1994 – in the new South Africa.
With its offices based in Braamfontein, Act is hosting its commemorative events across the country until 1 November. As the oldest independent and sustainable arts funding and development agency, Act will highlight its work and further sound a call for reflection on a quarter century of arts, culture and creativity in SA.
Each week of the month-long celebrations, organisers said they would focus on one of the five Act programmes in turn.
Communications and marketing coordinator, Thebe Mohlomi, said Act would use this milestone to call on South Africans to support the organisation by relating how they have benefitted from Act’s support in their own careers or in the lives of the organisations they serve.
Mohlomi added that Act would use this also to take stock of the work it had done since its existence and to reconnect and re-introduce itself to the public and its stakeholders.
The organisation was established to secure financial and other resources for arts, culture and heritage, and to project the needs and role of the sector into the public domain, he said.
“Act continues to nurture and reward excellence in the arts, culture and creative sector, drive the South Africa creative economy and contribute positively to the country’s GDP through its various programmes,” Mohlomi said.
“Act has implemented a wide range of activities nationally. Through the Act Professional Development Grants programme, the trust makes funding available to individual artists, arts and culture organisations and institutions in the form of grants and postgraduate bursaries.”
With the annual Act Awards, he said it was to recognise and celebrate excellence in South African arts, culture and creativity through Lifetime Achievement Awards in various categories and the ImpACT Awards for young South African artists and administrators.
Act has recently completed its ACTontheMove Roadshow which ran for three weeks and saw Act travel the country to re-introduce the organisation to the public and to its stakeholders.
Mohlomi said in a similar vein, Act is at an advanced stage of relaunching its corporate identity in creating a new look for the organisation for the coming 25 years.
Details: Arts and Culture Trust setumothebe@act.org.za
