The Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival nurtures a passion for music among talented students.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the idea of 2 500 performances in just 11 days, here’s a guide to getting the most from this year’s event.
Artistic director Ismail Mahomed chats to Eugene Yiga about the world’s second-largest arts festival as it celebrates four decades in Grahamstown.
Artists are dressing up – or undressing – to make a point about who they really are. But is the spectacle more than just cheap drag?
Yann Marrusich’s acclaimed, mysterious "Bleu Remix" will be performed in Cape Town on Tuesday evening.
Standard Bank Young Artist winner for performance art Anthea Moys took on a football game against the City of Grahamstown.
The weird and the wonderful were on display in Grahamstown but there’s a new world coming, and it’s to be found at the event’s fringe.
Mbongeni Ngema returns to the 39th National Arts Festival stage, after almost three decades, in The Zulu, a 90-minute oratorical tour de force.
A Dutch team has brought the story of a really bad opera singer to SA, and audiences are lapping it up.
"Wednesday Night" is directed by Princess Mhlongo, last year’s winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for drama.
One day, 20 years from now, we will say Swiss pianist Malcolm Braff changed the course of jazz music, writes Percy Zvomuya.
It’s something of a shock arriving in Grahamstown at festival-time, writes Matthew Krouse.
Anthea Moys has always challenged the traditional notion of art and performance. Her appearance at this year’s National Arts Festival is no different.
The 30-year-old protest classic emerges at the National Arts Festival.
Ten things you should know about Shane Cooper, the bassist and composer who is the recipient of this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist award for jazz.
The winner of the coveted Standard Bank Young Artist award for dance will be performing at this year’s National Arts Festival.
Mary Sibande is moving on from a familiar character in her oeuvre and, by exploring an historical event, is digging for deeper meaning.
Recent comments by Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile promise a shake-up of the institutions that are life-and-death for artists.
Reports of the death of stagecraft are exaggerated, says Brent Meersman. He turns the footlights on SA’s playmakers who are getting it right.
The National Arts Festival, due to be held at the end of June, has released details of its 2013 programme.
Until you’ve seen young minds create and execute ideas with limited experience and meagre budgets, your appreciation of art will never be adequate.
David Kibuuka, Johannesburg-based comedian, is a nice-guy funny man. "I don’t rip people off in real life – why would I do it in a show?"
Percy Zvomuya finds time during the Arts Festival to make a pilgrimage to Fingo Village and document the graves of obscure Zimbabwean royalty.
It is surprising that this is the first year the category has been officially included on the festival’s main programme.
A cover of traditional material on a European shrine dilutes a perceived power and levels the playing field.
Anthea Buys was surprised that only two audience members walked out of the opening performance of Steven Cohen’s Cradle of Humankind.
A national arts festival is all very well, but do we even agree on what "arts and culture" means in SA, asks Mpho Moshe Matheolane from Grahamstown.
There may be no WordFest this year, but the love of language is alive and thriving at this year’s National Arts Festival, writes Hailey Gaunt.
Brett Bailey’s new work recreates the museums and spectacles in Europe to which millions of people flocked to see "inferior" darker races.
Percy Zvomuya meets a football fanatic from Argentina who finds himself in Grahamstown during the National Arts Festival.
The performing arts shouldn’t look for audiences in alienating cultural bunkers like the State Theatre. Try outside rather, writes Brent Meersman.
For the third year running volunteer students are collaborating with artists and performers with the aim of opening the festival up to everyone.