Johannesburg’s annual Arts Alive Festival might be alive and kicking, but several Gauteng-based artists are digging in their heels over the alleged flagrant “disrespect paid to local talent”, while overseas participants are “treated like royalty”. Poets Lesego Rampolokeng, Lisa Combrinck and Boitumelo Mofokeng are just three of a growing number of enraged artists who have either boycotted or threatened to withdraw from festival events due to inadequate payment for their labour.
Their gripe revolves around the fact that they receive a pittance compared to artists brought in from overseas, such as jazz poet Jane Cortez, who performed at a poetry gala evening at Carfax last Friday night. The performance was held under the auspices of Arts Alive and hosted by The Congress of South African Writers (Cosaw). The Arizona-born Cortez was flown in with her band courtesy of the US Fund for Artists. But Arts Alive coughed up an unspecified amount to make their sojourn as comfortable as possible. Yet local artists — particularly those living in surrounding townships — complain that they are provided with hopelessly inadequate rehearsal space and facilities. Also, they say that their payment barely covers transport to and from the performance venues and that when they request taxi fare they are fobbed off.
Rampolokeng, who refused to participate in the Carfax poetry gala event, was also invited by Combrinck and Mofokeng to perform at a poetry reading held at Rand Afrikaans University (Rau) on September 10, organised by Dirk Klopper from that university’s English Department. When he inquired about payment he was told that local artists were expected to perform for free. He was later offered the sum of R200, which he angrily refused.
“I was told by the Arts Alive organisers that the festival provides exposure for artists and I should be grateful because poets get paid more than musicians for their labour,” he said. “But their attitude is unbelievably arrogant. The organisers are simply into empire- building. I have been to festivals overseas and I have seen that all artists get equal pay. The bottom line is that despite its hype, Arts Alive just uses local artists to boost its credibility, then treats them like shit”.
Combrinck and Mofokeng were initally invited onto the poetry platform at Rau University without being informed that Arts Alive was behind the event. When they found out they withdrew.
“Initially we gave our support to the endeavour without thought of payment because we believed we were would be reading to Rau students. But once we heard it was a festival event, we couldn’t be associated with it,” says Combrinck, a lecturer in the English Department at Vista University and a Cosaw executive member.
“The festival has a budget. If it includes sufficient remuneration for international artists, it should also provide adequate payment for local artists”. She adds: “We are not looking for handouts. We simply want respect and recognition. Yet year after year we are faced with inferior facilities, compared to overseas artists, and unequal payment for our labour.”
“Arts Alive is essentially a good thing and we welcome genuine exchange between local and international artists,” says Mofokeng. “But it is repeating the mistakes of the past by recognising international artists who essentially contribute nothing to this country at the expense of local artists who are its cultural lifeblood.”
Roshnee Moonsamy, festival manager, insists that international artists invited to South Africa to participate in the festival are funded entirely by overseas agencies.
“We are a non-profit organisation and we treat all artists with the same respect. However, international artists attract bigger audiences than their local counterparts. Their takings at the door help to cover costs incurred during their stay.”