ACT | BLA Festival Grants Announced

The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT), in association with Breadline Africa, is pleased to announce the list of festivals approved for support.

The ACT | BLA Festivals Programme addresses the vital challenges that artists from rural and per-urban areas face by increasing access through subsidising the participation of historically disadvantaged artists, performers and groups who may not otherwise be able to participate in recognised South African arts festivals.

‘For the third year running, renewed support from Breadline Africa will enable nine festivals nationwide to assist artists from impoverished communities to develop and ultimately take steps towards realising their full potential,’ says Pieter Jacobs, General Manager of ACT.

Breadline Africa (BLA) is an African based charity organisation which aims to help break the cycle of poverty within Africa by helping communities to help themselves. BLA supports projects which will make a permanent difference in the lives of communities affected by extreme poverty in Africa: hunger, homelessness, lack of skills- training and unemployment.

The recipients of the ACT | BLA Festival Grants for 2010 are as follows:

1. Joburg Arts Alive International Festival

This annual festival takes place in the heart of Johannesburg during the month of September. The festival has a multi-disciplinary nature and showcases music, dance, theatre, poetry/spoken word, visual art, comedy, film, exhibitions and workshops.

2. Back to the City Urban Youth Festival

Held on Freedom Day, this festival is an expression of creative freedom. It celebrates urban culture through dance, graffiti art, DJ’ing, street fashion and hip-hop music. The ACT | BLA grant supports creative and educational empowerment workshops in peri-urban areas such as Sebokeng, Evaton and at small farms in the Vaal Triangle and their participation at the festival hosted in inner city of Johannesburg.

3. The Baxter Dance Festival

The festival takes place at the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town at the end of August and provides emerging and established dance companies, choreographers and dancers with an opportunity to present their work in a professional theatre environment, while striving to nurture and promote dance talent in the greater Western Cape.

4. Buya School Theatre Festival

The aim of the festival is to assist and encourage the process of developing and staging youth theatre. Participants are from primary and secondary schools as well as youth groups from the greater Khayelitsha area. The festival is hosted at the beginning of May by the University of Stellenbosch and co-organised by the Black Adventist Performing Arts Academy (BAPA) Theatre Group from Khayelitsha.

5. Encounters Film Festival

Since its inception in 1999, Encounters has been instrumental in the growth of a cinema-going audience in the documentary genre in South Africa. Encounters annually organises conferences and workshops for the development of the industry and provides access to the Festival beyond suburbia through their In-reach Project which will be supported by the ACT | BLA grant and an outreach programme in the form of satellite festivals held in townships.

6. Ishahalazi Women’s Theatre Festival

Launched in 2008 by K-CAP, this festival aims to develop and empower female performing artists in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The festival celebrates the best of women’s theatre by offering a forum to learn and by creating and providing a platform to exhibit quality works. Festival activities start annually in May and the festival is hosted in the Inanda Ntuzuma Kwamashu townships during the month of August.

7. South African National Schools Festivals

The SA National Schools Festivals address the great need for arts-based education and exposure to the arts for the school-going youth of South Africa. The festival’s activities expose participants to career options in the arts while using the arts as a meaningful way to explore social issues and raise debate in an emerging democracy.

8. Poetry Africa

Poetry Africa is an internationally-renowned week-long festival that celebrates and

explores literature through the participation of engaging poets and musicians, from Africa in particular; in programmes that provide a space for intercultural exchange, dialogue and networking with effective development components and opportunities for aspirant poets. With special focus on South African poets alongside poets from the rest of the continent the festival runs across seven days and six nights in Durban at the beginning of October.

9. Ubuntu Festival

The Ubuntu Festival is known for breaking down prevailing cultural barriers and is attended by people from diverse cultural, economic and religious backgrounds. The festival takes place in mid-July in Cape Town and showcases dance, music, visual arts, craft, cultural performance, folklore, as well as ethnic and international food experiences.

For more information about BLA please visit

The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is South Africa’s premier independent arts funding and development agency. For more information please visit