Artists have blamed the National Arts Council’s (NAC) reluctance to “come on board” for small audiences on the Fringe at this year’s Arts Festival.
Paul Berning applied to the NAC for funding for his hit one-woman satirical comedy Miss Kwa Kwa in February this year.
When his application was declined, Berning decided to earn his own money and stage the play on the Fringe.
“All it meant was that I had to fund it myself. I had to find the money somewhere,” said Berning.
“I don’t believe in performing just for the sake of performing. I think that theatre should be economically viable so that people can earn a living from it as well as put money back into the production to take it further.”
Berning struggled to attract audiences during the first few days of fest. but things are “slowly picking up”.
Alarmingly, Berning noted that “a 50 percent audience attendance is the minimum break-even point”.
The NAC did not have a committee at the beginning of the year to decide who would be allocated funding. Applicants were only informed of their funding status two weeks before the festival started.
Andre Le Roux, executive assistant to the CEO of the NAC, said there were two sessions during which artists could apply for NAC funding.
The first starts at the end of this year’s festival and closes on September 15. The second session closes in mid-February 2004.
“We spoke to the festival organising committee to urge performers and potential applicants to utilise the September allocation period to apply for funding of their shows for the festival,” Le Roux said. — ECN-Cuewire