“Home at last and proud to be South African”, says the programme of the 2003 National Arts Festival, which runs from 27 June to 5 July 2003 in Grahamstown, heart of the Eastern Cape.
The festival, now in its 29th year, boasts approximately 600 events on the Main and Fringe programmes. There are about 1 800 performances varying from theatre, dance, opera, cabaret, art, classical music, jazz, poetry reading and lectures.
More than 100 000 visitors will come to experience one of the world’s most diverse displays of artistic talent, and share in the huge cross-section of cultures, resulting in the most unusual display of cultural tapestry. Festival visitors can look forward to Zulu and Eastern Cape beadwork, ballet, community theatre, township jazz and many other proudly South African initiatives.
In the interests of diversity, we don’t prescribe a theme,” says festival director Lynette Marais, ‘but ideas about home are surfacing organically from all round”.
‘All the country’s major creative centres and disciplines are represented, and highlights include, Cape Town City Ballet’s Swan Lake accompanied by the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic orchestra and the première of the first-ever stage version of Alan Paton’s Cry The Beloved Country,” she said.
Festival-goers can also look forward to performances by some of the festival greats, such as Sibongile Khumalo, David Kramer, Louis Mhlanga and Israel’s renowned Aviram Reichert.
‘There is a wealth of talent in our country, and it is this talent that should be brought to the fore through festivals like the National Arts Festival. We are grateful to all our sponsors, the Eastern Cape Government, Standard Bank, the National Arts Council and our two new sponsors, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and the SABC, for acknowledging the benefits of festivals like this and for providing funding to promote our own talent and making a difference in the lives of South Africans,” said Marais.
Information supplied by National Arts Festival