The National Arts Council candidates have been shortlisted to 18 people. HAZEL FRIEDMAN attended the open hearings this week
THE 18 nominees for South Africa’s first National Arts Council have been announced. The list of names, which were chosen after public interviews with 33 shortlisted candidates, has already been submitted to Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Lionel Mtshali, who will select between nine and 14 candidates. And by next week, with the inclusion of an additional nine candidates nominated by provincial MECs for culture, the NAC will be ready to roll. It will be in place to govern the country’s arts funding.
The 18 nominees are: Elize Botha, Linda Bukhosini, Richard Cock, Mimi Coertse , Lisa Combrinck, Vanessa Cooke, John Kani, Frederick Kok , David Koloane, Corinna Lowry, Mannie Manim , Marilyn Martin, Zakes Mda , Christopher Seabrooke, Bongani Tembe, Kiren Thathiah, Musa Xulu, Sakhe Ngqobe .
>From the list it is obvious that, in numbers anyway, Gauteng rules the roost with a whopping 13 candidates; KwaZulu-Natal trails behind with four, followed by the Western Cape with one. The gender and racial breakdown is more evenly balanced with women candidates and black candidates making up almost 50% of the list.
“We went for individuals who displayed qualities of perseverence, passion, commitment and expertise and who are active practitioners in their fields,” explains Judge Albie Sachs, who presided over the public hearings held last Friday, Saturday and Monday at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg. “The panellists agreed that there was a core of candidates who walked the interviews, and for the rest we looked at ways of redressing past imbalances, ensuring a balance between experience and youth and securing representation from all the creative disciplines.”
The latter criterion is probably what secured opera singer Mimi Coertze a place on an otherwise predictable and overall impressive lineup. Cultural stalwarts Vanessa Cooke, Mannie Manim, David Koloane and Zakes Mda were obvious choices, as was the man of many hats, actor and Pact chairman John Kani.
Surprise omissions were Omar Badsha, whose unashamedly confrontational attitude would certainly have rocked the NAC boat, and Johannesburg’s former director of culture, Christopher Till. His shock omission from the list inevitably raises questions about his future in the culture kingdom.
And eloquent “new” kids on the council block, crafts administrator Sakhe Ngqobe from Gauteng and musician Linda Bukhosini from KwaZulu-Natal, proved that a high profile is not a prerequisite to passion, commitment and vision. It is this calibre of candidate that is needed to make the NAC fulfil its mandate without straddling too many conflicting constituencies.
But the undisputed heroes of the hearings were the members of the selection panel, who balanced a chattily informal session with some pull-no-punches questions.
Whether it was a hypothesis directed by Darryl Accone about possible conflicts of interest; Bonghi Dlhomo’s concerns about community art priorities; Professor Njabulo Ndebele’s probing inquiries into budgets and trust funds (directed at arts council officials); the gentle chiding of Richard Cock for his potentially offensive “baroque in the bush” gaffe; or Judge Sachs’s unflagging humour and empathy, the NAC hearings represented a proud first for South Africa’s fractitious cultural community.
It’s a pity the very constituency – used to beating its collective breast and bemoaning its lowly status on the government’s priority ladder – for whom the NAC was established, wasn’t around to see this historic occasion. It probably didn’t offer the prospect of one of those snarling, biting, go-for-the-jugular fights that have become synonymous with South African high culture.