Migrant Artist`s Handbook

THE MIGRANT ARTIST’S HANDBOOK
THE MIGRANT
ARTIST’S
HANDBOOK
A guide to living and working in Cape Town & Johannesburg
A publication by the African Arts Institute
African Arts Institute
An African Arts Institute Publication
The Migrant Artist’s Handbook: A guide to living and working in Cape Town & Johannesburg
Published by the African Arts Institute
Union House, Second Floor,
25 Commercial Street, 8001
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27-21-465 9027/8 | info@afai.org.za
African Arts Institute © 2011
ISBN:
978-0-9869900-4-5
Conceptualization team: Jedaja Ikoli, Ronald Muchatuta, Marcelino Manhula, Richard Mudariki, Musa
Banda, Cosmas Mairosi and Mwila Mambwe
Content director: Rucera Seethal
Editor: Liepollo Rantekoa
Design and layout: Natasha Johnson
Research and production: Patricia Matongo
'Starting out in the arts' contributors: Neo Muyanga, Concord Nkabinde, Rhoda Isaacs (Music);
Aryan Kaganof, Dylan Valley (Film); Mamela Nyamza, Mwenya Kabwe, Quanita Adams (Performing
Arts); Kemang Wa Lehulere; Mimi Cherono Ng’ok (Visual Arts); Phillippa Yaa De Villiers, Colleen Higgs
(Literature)
'General info and resources' contributors: Joyce Tlou, Braam Hanekom, David Burgsdorff, Hilton
Johnson, Marco Zumpt and thank you to the City of Joburg Migrant Help Desk
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is complete and
accurate and to trace copyright holders to obtain permissions for the use of copyright material. All
contacts and web addresses were checked to be current and functioning at time of publication.
The publisher apologises for any errors, omissions or outdated contacts and web addresses and
would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or
editions of this book.
Preamble
The African Arts Institute (AFAI) is committed to distributing data and information relevant to building, promoting and
sustaining the African creative sector; to foster the growth of arts-related micro-enterprises and to create opportunities for
employment in this sector.
This handbook then, undertakes to provide to both Migrant and South African start-up artists, resources, references, and
tools to approach various arts disciplines with self-fulfilling and self-sustaining imperatives.
AFAI sought migrant artist representatives to identify and discuss the challenges faced by their communities both on the
level of survival within South Africa, but also concerning artistic production on a self-sustaining basis. Representing the
visual arts were Jedaja Ikoli, Ronald Muchatuta, Marcelino Manhula and Richard Mudariki. Musa Banda represented
music and Cosmas Mairosi poetry with Mwila Mambwe representing both poetry and music.
In understanding that one is a human being first before an artist, the handbook includes two sections. The first part of the
handbook aims to service start-up artists with limited capital resources; it assumes artistic practice to artists as a basic need;
it provides advice and experience through the words of established artists; and aims to impart basic business guidance to
assist the artist in his or her self-sustaining objectives. The second section of the handbook is resource focused, providing
information and giving direction on issues pertaining to personal documentation, legal and finance matters.
A note to the artist
This handbook is a resource and a guide. It brings to you advice from artists from various backgrounds and stages of their
careers, who have learned through both experience and training.
Before navigating this handbook, it is important to ask yourself what you wish to achieve through your artistic production.
Knowing this will guide you in selecting which resources and what experience is relevant to you.
For example, as a musician perhaps you seek fame? Or to work with musicians you respect? To compose music? To
highlight social issues? To make money? Any answer is valid – the important thing is to identify what your aims are as
these will provide a consistent point of departure for the choices ahead of you, and put you in a better position to identify
and build on your successes.
A musician for whom fame is important might spend time listening to popular radio, invest heavily in branding him or
herself, and actively pursue a record company to sign with; whereas the musician whose purpose is to highlight social
injustices might find social media and live performance an important tool for sharing music, communicating a message
and building a dedicated listenership.
As a creative person, do not underestimate your ability to innovate and dream – this is your most powerful resource. As
you work towards your aims, don’t limit your creativity to an end product – extend your abilities to all aspects of your work.
There are many ways of doing any one thing. Instead of being paralysed by the cost of hiring film equipment – shoot a film
from your cell phone. While you are trying to get a gallery to sign your work, host an exhibition in your home or speak to
local business to exhibit your work on their wall space. Need an income while you develop a body of work? Cook a meal
and charge your friends to attend. Collaborate with other creative producers to press and release your CD. All of the above
have been done, with varying degrees of success – depending on what the artist’s intention was. You must build your own
paths to your objectives.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) Starting out in the arts:
2.2) Communications
MUSIC
Overview
Music handbook
In conversation with Concord Nkabinde
Contributors
Resources
07
08
12
15
16
FILM
Overview
Film handbook
In conversation with Aryan Kaganof
Contributors
Resources
19
20
28
30
31
PERFORMING ARTS
Overview
Performing arts handbook
In conversation with Quanita Adams
Contributors
Resources
33
34
38
40
42
VISUAL ARTS
Overview
Visual arts handbook
In conversation with Mimi Cherono Ng'ok
Contributors
Resources
45
46
50
52
53
LITERATURE
Overview
Literature handbook
In conversation with Phillippa Yaa de Villiers
Contributors
Resources
59
60
67
69
70
2) General info & resources:
2.1) LISTS
Further education
Funding & Bursaries
Awards & Competitions
Festivals
Retail outlets
Casting agencies
73
75
76
77
79
81
The internet as a sales & marketing tool
Communications
English courses
82
83
85
2.3) Business
Basic financial management
Opening a bank account
Quotes
Invoices
Cash receipts
Stock movement / Delivery note
85
87
89
90
91
92
2.4) Personal documentation
resources
Definition of a refugee
Refugee responsibilities
Home Affairs refugee reception offices
Asylum seeker permit
Failure to renew a permit
Refugee status
Refugee ID
United Nations travel document
Permanent residence
Exceptional skills work permit
Study permit
Business permit
Life partner permit
Documentation required
Lost permit
Human trafficking
RESOURCES
92
93
94
94
94
94
94
94
94
94
95
95
95
95
95
96
96
Legal assistance
Artists legal documents
Other legal services
Copyright
97
99
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music
I think the scene here benefits
whenever we accept that we are
not homogenous or monolithic –
variety is not just good for ‘spicing
things up’ it is necessary for
continual evolution ... my advice
is don’t break into a scene, make
your own universe and invite
people to party in it.
Neo Muyanga
South African singer and composer
music
music
OVERVIEW
The story of South African music is one of dialogue with imported forms, and varying degrees of hybridisation over
the years. From the earliest colonial days until the present time, South African music has created itself out of the
mingling of local ideas and forms with those imported from outside the country, giving it all a special twist that
carries with it the unmistakeable flavour of the country.
In the Dutch colonial era, from the 17th century on, indigenous people as well as settlers, migrants and slaves
adapted Western musical instruments and ideas. The Khoi-Khoi, for instance, developed the ramkie, a guitar with
three or four strings, based on that of the Malabar people, and used it to blend Khoi and Western folk songs.
Western music was played by slave orchestras (the governor of the Cape, for example, had his own slave orchestra
in the 1670s), and travelling musicians of mixed-blood stock moved around the colony entertaining at dances and
other functions - a tradition that continued into the era of British domination after 1806.
In a style similar to that of British marching military bands, coloured (mixed race) bands of musicians began parading
through the streets of Cape Town in the early 1820s, a practice that was given impetus by the travelling minstrel shows of
the 1880s and has continued to the present day with the annual Cape Town carnival.
The penetration of missionaries into the interior over the succeeding centuries also had a profound influence on
South African musical styles. In the late 1800s, early African composers such as John Knox Bokwe began composing
hymns that drew on traditional Xhosa harmonic patterns.
The missionary influence, plus the later influence of American spirituals, spurred a gospel movement that is still
very strong in South Africa today. Drawing on the traditions of churches such as the Zion Christian Church, one of
the largest such groupings in Africa, gospel music has exponents whose styles range from the more traditional to
the pop-infused sounds of, for instance, singer Rebecca Malope. Gospel, in its many forms, is one of the best-selling
genres in South Africa today, with artists who regularly achieve sales of gold and platinum status.
The missionary emphasis on choirs, combined with the traditional vocal music of South Africa, and taking in other
elements as well, also gave rise to a mode of a capella singing that blended the style of Western hymns with
indigenous harmonies. This vocal music is the oldest traditional music known in South Africa. It was communal,
accompanying dances or other social gatherings, and involved elaborate call-and-response patterns.
The development of a black urban proletariat and the movement of many black workers to the mines in the 1800s
meant that differing regional traditional folk musicality met and began to flow into one another. For example, as the
focal point of Ngqoko, a group of traditional bowsingers from the Eastern Cape, NoFinish Dywili took the traditional
music of the abaThembu people from obscurity to local and international renown.
Western instrumentation was used to adapt indigenous songs, which in turn started to influence the development
of new hybrid modes of music-making (as well as dances) in South Africa’s developing urban centres. South
African music evolution and composition is characterised by styles such as marabi-swing of the 1890s which later
influenced mbaqanga (early South African jazz) and kwela in the 1950s; boeremusiek in the 1900s; afro jazz in the
1980s whilst pop music had gained popularity from the first commercial recordings in 1912; and kwaito came to the
fore in the 1990s.
Read more on Kwela, Mbaqanga, Marabi, Jazz at home and in exile, pop, rock, bubblegum and kwaito at:
www.southafrica.info/about/arts/music.htm#ixzz1fAvn1srm
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MUSIC HANDBOOK
GETTING STARTED
3 P’s – what to focus on as a musician
Performance producer Rhoda Isaacs stresses the importance of practicing, playing and promoting. She warns
starting musicians who are seeking record company deals of signing with a record company too early in their
careers. When a musician is an ‘unknown’, recording contracts can include less favourable royalties. Rather
Isaacs advises that musicians put in the effort of improving their own skills, develop new work, and promote
themselves before approaching a record company. But as singer and songwriter Neo Muyanga says – “the
challenges are always about survival – in order to build on success, one has to be around for the long haul”.
PRACTICE3, FIND YOUR VOICE
Practice, practice, practice and listen are consistantly advised by
musicians and those working in various creative industries. Learning
about and developing your musical ‘voice’ is perhaps the most vital thing
you can do at the beginning of your career, many musicians work through
scales and techniques daily or more frequently to achieve this.
Also build your own knowledge, follow your interests and be curious:
Read writings on other musicians, go to the library, music stores, your
favourite DJ’s sets, youtube – listen and explore other sounds.
Neo Muyanga has a daily routine: “I get into my studio at the same time
everyday and begin by working through the same scales and techniques
until I make a mistake – the mistake usually leads to the creation of
new work.”
PLAY
Playing is important to get your sound and name known by the public
and musical peers. Money can be earned as a set-musician, but other
musicians need to have heard and seen you perform, perhaps even played
with you before they consider approaching you to work with them. Through
playing with other musicians, in addition to gaining experience, you can
also learn from them musically and from their own experiences as a
musician in a shared or different context.
At performances, go with your instrument to join in, should the opportunity
arise – most musicians are happy to jam with new artists. Finding your
own gigs can be hard, but it's very important. Be creative and proactive,
as a creative person you can be innovative in all areas including the
organising of jam-sessions.
8
See page 17 for links to
performance venues
music
PROMOTE
Outside of performing live, there are several steps you can take to selfpromote your work, get your name known and sell your work, such as
using social media networks, creating a Demo CD, an EPK, and planning
a presentation of your music and CD to the store’s buyer (the buyer is
responsible for selecting what stock to sell in the store).
Make a Demo
A demo version or demo of a song (shortened from the word “demonstration”)
is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for you
to communicate your musical ideas and provide an example of those ideas
to record labels, producers, or other artists. Many unsigned bands and
artists record demos in order to obtain a recording contract which will allow
them to be signed onto the label’s roster and to record a full-length album in
a professional recording studio. However, large record labels usually ignore
unsolicited demos and you should be more creative about getting the demos
into the hands of the people who make decisions for the record company.
Making an EPK on CD or online
An EPK (electronic press kit) is a press kit equivalent in electronic form.
Typically an EPK should give as much information as possible about you
and your work, and albums you have made. This can include some sample
songs, a biography of the band and each musician, a short write-up describing
your music, video clips of performances, performance dates, press reviews,
listings and interviews, contact information, and the track list of your recent
album if you have one.
See
“The Internet as a Sales
and Marketing Tool”
chapter on page 82.
6-step tutorial
for recording at home or
in a professional recording
studio: www.wikihow.com/
Make-a-Demo-CD:
www.en.wikipedia.org and
wiki Demo_%28music%29
Further reading:
www.ourstage.com/
blog/2009/6/3/how-to-puttogether-a-knockout-epk
DOING IT ALONE
Access your resources
Musician Concord Nkabinde, reflecting on the changing music landscape
and digital influences therein says “the majority of my peers are still
ignorant and intimidated by the thought of the digital world and exploring
the digital social space. It is really a sad affair seeing that most of history
is now being captured and preserved digitally. This means a bulk of our
history will not be readily available because the ones who are creating
what will become history might have limited perspectives and might not be
open to sharing on these open platforms.
“In my view computers have become essential for the less privileged. Any
device that will cut travel costs, that will help you deliver anywhere in the
world in a flash, a device that can help you run an office effectively without
physical space is definitely for the disadvantaged. I even go on
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to say there is no way you can make great success as an independent artist
without unlimited access to a computer and the internet. This is also not as
expensive as it is often made out to be. With good planning and prioritising,
new artists with limited resources can make these tools available to
themselves. The unfortunate reality with the digital world is that the longer
you take to jump on the train, the faster it moves and the harder it becomes
to catch up.”
WikiHow has numerous music producing and recording how-to articles
with step-by-step instructions and photos at: www.wikihow.com/
Category:Music-Producing-and-Recording
Related articles can be found under Media and Software: www.wikihow.
com/Category:Media-Software
MAKING MONEY
Concord Nkabinde was asked to give advice to starting musicians with an
interest in practicing music, and in music as a self-sustaining occupation
specifically about what areas or avenues are more profitable for musicians
in South Africa. Here is what he had to say:
"Unlike some career paths, the Arts define the path and destiny the
further you get involved and the greater your understanding of self and
of the possibilities within the industry. It is important to also note that a
'true artist', whatever that means, is not one who tries to find ways that
have brought success for others and then tries and copy them. A 'true
artist' creates new things and new paths and that is where the 'success'
lies. So let us not get carried away with what might bring in more money
as if we can guarantee the outcomes of the the journey.
"What I always advise young music students to do is not to be picky and
choosy as to what they want to learn at this early stage of their career.
Some even limit themselves to only learn within a particular style of
music and ignore and hate other styles. By so doing, you are limiting or
closing possibillities of being a broader creative person and artist. Many
musicians who started out thinking they will become superstars, end
up in other areas that they may not have thought of but still find them
rewarding in terms of 'job' satisfaction as well as financial benefit. Some
of these areas could be composing music for film, teaching music,
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managing artists or being a booking agent, producing recordings, writing
about the arts, just composing for other artists and projects, selling
musical instruments, etc. All these possibilities can become a reality
if we are open minded about learning as much as possible at the early
stage of our musical careers.
"I don’t think there is one part of the industry that one would say is more
profitable than another. In all areas there are those who do extremely
well financially and those who don’t. There are also many who are
in-between and happy.
"Personally I spread the effort and the returns are quite spread as well.
That is the kind of stability I prefer and don’t want to depend on one
aspect just in case, for some reason, I end up not being able to execute
certain duties. We have to think long-term and think of engagements
that have a return on investment for years, such as composing music
and making sure it gets used as much as possible."
SELLING YOUR
MUSIC ONLINE:
Further reading:
“How do I sell Online?:”
New Music Strategies.
www.newmusicstrategies.
com/2008/04/04/how-can-isell-my-music-online/>
Dubber, A 2007,
New Music Strategies:
The 20 Things you must
know about music online.
www.newmusicstrategies.
com/ebook/
Performing
When Neo Muyanga started BLK Sonshine with Masauko Chipembere
he juggled several balls to survive: “I had various day jobs while we were
building a following for BLK Sonshine, then when we were ready to release
our first record I became a musician fulltime, day and night. We had to
commit to being ‘on the road’ permanently for 3 years in South Africa, the
USA and Europe.”
See
page 17 for a links to
Johannesburg and Cape
Town musical performance
venues, and page 77 for list
of National music festivals.
Read about how concerts can be beneficial:
www.entertainment.howstuffworks.com/concert-tour.htm
SELLING YOUR MUSIC ON CD:
You can approach music stores to stock your CD if you have one, Rhoda
Issacs suggests. You will need to set a meeting with the store buyer, take
with you about 12 copies of your CD and EPK, and prepare a professional
presentation to the buyer. Remember that the buyer wants to know if your
CD will sell – and this is what you need to convince him or her about. Things
like previous sales figures (even from selling out of your backpack after a
performance) and price points are important.
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in conversation with Concord Nkabinde
Learning from others
I had worked for years with artists who were pursuing their solo creative paths, mostly those who were signed to big
record companies. This period, working under these artists, was a school, an education that afforded me knowledge
and experience that could not have been found at any educational institution, especially ones which have modules
on the business of music. For me that time brought the consciousness to realize the difference between: (1) what
the industry and public see as 'success' and (2) what it means to be a good and respected artist. There was no way
being signed to a big record label could help further my agenda of becoming good at what I do and respected for it.
Record labels just don’t share that vision. They probably don’t have to entirely share that vision with an artist but
when their drive for profit stiffles the artist’s vision, then it is not worth 'The Deal'.
I felt I needed to run my affairs as a record label, a music publisher, a music producer, a publicist, a marketing
director and still be an artist. This was a necessary process not because I wanted to be controlling but because I
needed to define within myself how my vision can and should remain consistent through all these aspects of my
career and life. Then one day when I employ people to take care of certain business aspects on my behalf, I would
know exactly what has to be done, how it should be done and what it should cost.
Most artists’ lack of basic knowledge of the business weakens them when it comes to any form of negotiating. It
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also robs them of a depth of understanding of how effective they can be in the industry and in the world, as artists.
'Doing it alone' or being an independent artist does not have to mean you have to physically do everything yourself.
To me it means having the right and the ability to decide who your partners will be. If you are signed by a record
label, especially a big one, you don’t have the leisure of choosing your business partners.
FINANCE WITH VISION
Financing is a big challenge, however, the biggest challenge is having a clear mindset on what you are about.
This impacts how you present yourself to opportunities and people who can help with accessing finance. No one
wants to finance someone who has no clear direction and vision. Some artists do get the finance and still can’t
get ahead because they lack vision. You need to know your strengths, particularly your non-musical strengths such
as people-skills, being a good speaker or writer, a project manager, etc. It is amazing how all these skills, gifts and
talents come in handy when you are independent and don’t have a massive budget.
CHALLENGES
Another challenge is to really ignore the industry pressure and projections of what it means to be successful or what the
‘right’ way of launching yourself into the industry is. We know that the general approach to launch one’s self into the music
industry is by releasing a recording. But what about becoming a musician? These impulses explain for me why many
recording artists seem successful but are yet to become musicians. Our music careers shouldn’t be about sales. They
should be about displaying the highest level of creativity that inspires and leads others to apply their own creativeness in
their lives. It’s amazing how through our music we can make such an impact on people and have such fun doing it.
You will notice I am not dealing here with typical challenges such as finding musicians to play on your recording,
booking a studio, getting distribution for your recording, finding a bar code, etc. As far as I am concerned, in this
day and age those question can be answered by simply 'Googling it'. In fact, once you have come to the bottom
of who you are and what you want to do, once you have the confidence of a good musician and performer, once
you have done your research into the music business, once you have networked like crazy over the years, all those
other pertinent questions will be so easy to deal with. I would recommend a book by Roy M. Spence, Jr. with Haley
Rushing: 'It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For.''
MARKETING ONLINE
It is sad to see so many musicians resisting exploring the digital space. We can’t deny that the world has changed
and continues to do so at an alarming rate. Our industry is changing as well and we need to adapt.
Social networking gives one a hands-on approach which can diminish that 'false' and unnecessary wall that gets created
between the artist and the general public. Some artists do not buy into this personal approach because it makes them
appear not as big a deal as they think they should be. It makes one accessible, which I personally think is great.
These platforms give us newer ways to sell our music. Imagine at a click being able to recommend a new track you have just
uploaded on Facebook or YouTube to two thousand followers, and they can listen to the track, comment and buy it if they like
it. That beats a whole value chain process, helps you deliver faster and more directly and empowers the one who runs the
business. Now those, my friends, are three tools the big record labels don’t want you to have control of as an artist.
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I hate to state the obvious but exploring the internet equals exploring the world at large. Nothing compares to the
ability to speak to people and grow your audience whilst sitting in your own lounge at home. Obviously it is not as
easy as that but that is how simple the principle is.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC INDUSTRY
'South Africa has an amazing amount of talent and potential', these are words we hear all the time and they are
true. However, what is the point of us quoting these words year after year, decade after decade, and that talent and
potential never gets supported and exposed enough. There is a serious lack of insight in those who claim to support
the arts, including Government, in as far as understanding the importance of Arts and Culture in what makes up a
nation’s fibre, morally, historically and economically. The Arts are still seen as ways of “distracting the people from
the real issues through entertainment”. When funders and government have that mindset, we are in serious trouble,
hence the importance of working hard to become independent artists.
Two things are generally not taken seriously in the music industry in South Africa: the technical expertise and the
presentation of our live shows. We settle for bad sound, bad lighting and no stage design and artists also drop their
standards when it comes to how they prepare and present themselves.
Optimistically, I see the number of artists who are going the independent route – many of them still don’t know what
they are doing partly because the Record labels and those in the know have hidden the information so much and
for so long that the catching up process will take some time. Thank God for the internet and the age of information
– the catching up process does not have to take too long. For a while the industry will be messy with everybody
experimenting as independent artists and labels but eventually it will start clearing up and new and effective ways of
doing business will emerge. We are already starting to hear more and more new and fresh music, music that comes
directly from the artists’ heart, not being dictated to by some guy in a suit at a record company. Of course the reality
is that some of this new music will be great and some will be ‘crap’. That’s how an unregulated industry works but
the freedom and space to be, is necessary.
* Constructed from an interview with Concord Nkabinde conducted by Rucera Seethal, November 2011
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CONTRIBUTORS
NEO MUYANGA
Neo Muyanga was born in Soweto, into a long line of traditional composers and makers of the Timbila (Mozambican tuned
wood percussion instrument). He studied the Italian madrigal tradition with choral maestro, Piero Poclen, in Trieste, Italy.
In the mid 90s he co-founded the acoustic guitar duo, BLK Sonshine (together with Masauko Chipembere) garnering
critical acclaim throughout Southern Africa and on tours internationally. Neo writes music, plays and composes for
chorus, chamber and large ensemble (most recently his ‘Memory of how it feels’ was performed at the Baxter theatre,
Cape Town). He has also composed music for and toured with Britain’s prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, and
South Africa’s celebrated Handspring Puppet Company and served as artist-in-residence at the University of Cape Town
School of Drama. Muyanga also co-curates the Pan African Space Station - a portal that plays host to an archive of
contemporary Pan African sound and art on the internet as well as live in venues across Cape Town and the globe.
CONCORD NKABInDE
Concord Nkabinde’s interest in music began around the age of 10, in church. He got involved with many gospel
music bands in Soweto and later ventured into the broader scope of the secular music industry. He became
convinced that he needed to acquire more knowledge and experience. This led to him pursuing a Bachelor of Music
Degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Natal, Durban. From there, he went on to teach music full-time in Soweto
and Johannesburg, before deciding to pursue a career as a studio and touring musician.
Nkabinde became a sought after bass guitarist, working with the likes of Abdullah Ibrahim, Zim Ngqawana, Hugh
Masekela, Ray Phiri and many others. During this period Nkabinde also honed his leadership skills as a musical
director and recording producer. His work as a producer includes recordings by Joyous Celebration 1, Wendy
Mseleku's 'Picking up the pieces' and Tsunami's 'From clay'.
He has toured internationally with Johnny Clegg, Zim Ngqawana, Darius Brubeck, Deepak Ram, Ray Phiri,Gito Baloi
and others. Concord has also assisted numerous international performing artists who have toured South Africa, such
as Roy Ayers (USA), Colin Black Vearncombe (U.K.), Sergio Diaz (Brazil), Efrain Toro (Puerto Rico) and others.
RHODA ISAACS
Rhoda Isaacs has worked in the music industry for 14 years, coordinating events, juggling logistics and
managing productions. She has done time for an independent record company but thrives in the live music
business – loving, as she does, the creative magic of musicians, fantastic crews, the energy of a crowd, bright
lights, gaffer tape and the smell of hardware. Isaacs currently lives in Cape Town, loves books and music, the
ocean and her family, chosen and inherited.
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RESOURCES
ORGANISATIONs:
The Musicians Union of South Africa
Phone: 011 836 0041
Southern African Music Rights
Organisation
www.samro.org.za/about/whatissamro
Association of Independent Record
Companies
www.airco.org.za
Composers Association of South
Africa (CASA)
www.composers.co.za
Moshito
www.moshito.co.za
Music Managers Forum of South
Africa (MMFSA)
www.mmfsa.org
National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music in Southern
Africa LTD (NORM)
www.norm.co.za
Ghyka, M. 2004, The Geometry of Art
and Life 1946, Montana: Kessinger
iTunes University
www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
MMINO 2010, Mapping of the South
African Live Music Circuit 2010
www.moshito.co.za
Muyanga, N 2009, A legacy of note…
Louise Moholo in conversation
with Neo Muyanga, Cape Town:
Chimurenga. Available at
www.chimurenganewsroom.org.
Pan African Space Station (PASS)
www.panafricanspacestation.org.
Southern African Music Rights
Organisation (SAMRO)
www.samro.org.za
Shaw, J 2010, The South African
Music Business, 2nd Edition.
www.sheetmusic.co.za
Recording Industry of South Africa
(RISA)
www.risa.org.za
Toop, D 2000, Rap attack 3: African
rap to global hip hop, Serpents Tail
FURTHER INFO
rECORDING STUDIOS
CAPE TOWN
(Books, audiovisual
resources, and links to
other resource lists):
Dubber, A 2007/8 The 20 things you
must know about music online,
New Music Strategies. Available at
www.newmusicstrategies.com
16
South African Coalition for Cultural
Diversity: Music Industry Task Team
(MITT) Report
Available at www.saccd.org.za
Abbott Audio - Music Production and
Recording Studio
www.abbottaudio.org
B & S Studios
www.bandsstudios.co.za
Cape Town Sound
www.capetownsound.com
Desert Rose Music
www.desertrosemusic.co.za
Dreamspace Recording Studio,
www.dreamspacerecording.com
Heritage Sound
www.heritagesound.net
Milestone Studios
www.milestones.co.za
Red Bull Studio
www.redbullstudio.co.za
Sound and Motion Studios
www.soundandmotion.co.za
The Nut House Recording Studio
www.nuthouse.co.za
The Planet Art
www.theplanetart.com
JOHANNESBURG
Claude King Media Productions
16 Southern-Kliprivierserg Rd
Phone: 011 435 9940
www.claudekingmedia.com
Apex Multimedia
www.apexmedia.co.za
Blackbox Recording Studio
Phone: 011 482 8728
www.bizcommunity.com/company/
blackboxrecordingstudio
Livewire Recording Studio
www.livewirestudios.za.net
music
Morgeez Studios
www.morgeez.com
Soul Candi
www.soulcandi.co.za
Sting Recording Studios
Phone: 011 786 8635
Streetbass CC
Phone: 0826 000 002
Wounded Buffalo
www.woundedbuffalo.com
Musikhaus W Heuer
Cavendish Place, Claremont
Phone:021 683 6050; 69-71
Bird Street Stellenbosch
Phone: 021 887 2938
www.mheuer.co.za
Allen & Fischer Pianos
Old Wynberg Hotel, Corner of Main
and Constantia Roads,Wynberg
Phone: 021 797 7118
www.pianoworld.co.za
MUSIC OUTLETS
CAPE TOWN
BK Percussion and Musical
Instruments
Rosbur Park, Neptune Street,
Paarden Island
Phone: 021 510 7770
www.bkpercussion.co.za
African Music Store (The)
134 Long St, Cape Town
Phone: 021 426 0857
www.africanmusicstore.co.za
Brian Lisus Violins
22 Firfield Road, Plumstead
Phone: 021 797 2861
www.lisusviolins.com
Hi-five
www.hi-five.co.za
Guitar Centre
Shop 10, Parklands Centre,
Link Road, Parklands
Phone:021 557 2157
www.guitarcentre.co.za
Loud on Long
43 Long St, City Bowl
Phone: 021 422 3801
Mabu Vinyl
www.mabuvinyl.co.za
Marshall Music
www.marshallmusic.co.za
Musicraft
8 Humby Road, Ottery
Phone:021 703 2902
www.musiccraft.co.za
Musicfest SA
Shop 34, Shoprite Park
262 Voortrekker Road, Parow
Phone: 021 930 3330
Oosthavens Music Ltd
71 Plein Street, Alberton
Phone:011 333 6690
www.oosthavensmusic.co.za
Specialized Music Distributors
Waterfall Crescent
Phone: 011 804 1362
www.specializedmusic.co.za
Streetbass CC
71 Plein Street, Alberton, 2001
Phone: 011 333 8325
That Other Music Shop (Pty) Ltd
(TOMS)
Zambezi Drive, Wedela
Phone: 012 548 5912
www.toms.co.za
live musical
performance
Venues
Listings of current & upcoming music performances
(who, when, where, how
much, who to contact):
JOHANNESBURG
www.southafrica.info
Marshall Music
Peter Street, Randburg
Phone: 011 462 4390
www.marshallmusic.co.za
www.capetownlive.com
Music & Merchandise
Airport Industria
Phone: 0861 687 426
www.jhblive.com
www.joburg.co.za
www.sa-venues.com/events
Rockin’ Alive
Juta Street, Braamfontein
Phone: 011 403 4105
17
FILM
When a story ends – or 'falls
into the ocean' as we say – it
creates dreams. It has energy and
direction. I hope that all my stories
finish by presenting a lesson for
society, but there is also great
freedom in my way of seeing and
treating things. I do the audience
justice: they have the freedom
to enter or not to enter into my
stories. They are free to take their
own path, to enter or to leave.
In one word, 'liberty' is what
characterizes what I am doing.
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Senegalese filmmaker
FILM
FILM
OVERVIEW
The South African film industry’s recognised history starts in 1895, when the Kinetophone - global pioneers in viewing and
hearing sound motion pictures, arrived in the country. Other notable events around this period include the founding of
Electric Theatre; the first sound advertisement films by African Film Productions in 1909; and the first colour film
Daar doer in die bosveld in 1951.
Government agenda hindered the industry’s advancement through the passing of the National Censorship Act (1931)
and Entertainment Act (1931) and the establishment of institutions such as the South African Censor Board (1936) and
the Publications Control Board (Censorship Board) (1963). SA History Online (SAHO) critically notes that “government
and big business collaborated to keep SA cinema a cinema for whites only; of the 60 recognised films made between
1956 and 1962, most were in Afrikaans, four were bilingual and 13 were in English. Since 1962 Afrikaner capital had
been a significant factor in the industry ... black and white audiences were treated differently; audiences were separated,
watching different films in vastly differing surroundings.” But, signs of debunking the state norm were exemplified by the
all-Black cast of Jim comes to Joburg/African Jim (1949); the first performance of 'Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica' in the film Zonk
(1950); Dr Lionel Ngakane as assistant director on Cry the beloved country (1951), and locally produced films U’Deliwe
(1974) and How Long (1975), directed by Simon Sabela and Gibson Kente respectively. Boesman en Lena (1973) and
e’Lolipop (1975) represented the watershed in film being used as a state propaganda tool. From the 1980s, independent
cinemas actively screened films such as Mapantsula (1988), that were not popular to the state.
Television arrived in South African in 1976, with contemporary TV programming often critiqued for its lack of innovation
and repeats of programmes aired with local productions of mediocre effort. In order to transverse this quagmire, Don
Mattera suggests that local channels could “visit the various South African film archives in the country – including
researching the private collections of astute film families such as the Schelsingers” whilst producers should review the
experimental styles used in making films like Come Back Africa (1955), Zonk (1950), Jim comes to Joburg (1949) and
in the series’ Lesilo and Mopheme. According to SAHO, television production accounts for more than a third of total film/
television revenue, with local-content quotas increasing the demand for programming.
The South African film industry is paradoxical, offering foreign producers world-class film facilitation, logistics, talent and
administration-management services but producing very few local profit-making films with specifically local stories and
with local actors. Regardless, successful films such as Paljas (1997), Mr Bones (2001), Totsi (2005), Gangster’s Paradise:
Jerusalema (2008), District 9 (2009) indicate that the industry is tackling its limitations. Also, supportive institutions such
as the National Film and Video Foundation (1999) and film festivals like Encounters SA International Documentary Film
Festival provide platforms for and encourage the progress of the local industry. There are also hopes that the Cape Town
Film Studio, Africa’s first modern high-technology film complex, will make the industry more attractive for international
production projects whilst improving the standard of locally produced films.
* See references on page 27
19
FILM HANDBOOK
Filmmaking (academically referred to as film production) is the process of making a film, from an initial story,
idea, or commission. Filmmaking takes place in a vast range of economic, social, and political contexts, and
using a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques. Creating a film involves an array of specialities
or processes including some or all of the following: script or screenwriting, casting and acting, directing,
producing, shooting, video editing, production design, visual effects, and animation. Some artists may focus
on one of these areas, while others take responsibility for most areas. Taking greater responsibility and
playing broader creative roles might mean one has more control over various aspects of the film and can cut
back on budgets, but it is a lot of work and can increase film production time significantly.
TRAINING
Training in film can be achieved academically through tertiary institutions or
practically via interning and apprenticing.
If you are considering to embark on the academic route, you would have to
decide whether you want to attend an institution that provides a strong
theoretical grounding or one that has a more practical approach to film
studies. Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various
theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to film and cinema. Generally,
film studies is less focused on film production than it is with engaging the
narrative, artistic, cultural, economic, and political implications of the cinema.
In film, your reputation and network play a significant role in your ability to find
work; project or funding opportunities; and your ability to access skilled people
who you can include in your creative team. Dylan Valley is a young Cape Town
based documentary filmmaker who studied Film and Media (undergrad) and
Film Theory and Practice (postgrad) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He ,
suggests formal studies background as well as participating or attending film
festivals as ways to build and maintain your reputation and network.
After completing his undergraduate degree, Valley says he felt unprepared for
working in the South African film environment. He then decided to intern at e-TV
news to gain some practical experience, and he pursued an honours progamme.
Nonetheless, Valley feels that attending university afforded him access to
existing networks; allowed him the opportunity to explore the various aspects
of film production; provided resources to make his first film and gave him a
deeper, more critical understanding of film and cinema. For these reasons he
is glad he made the decision to study.
Besides South African tertiary institutions, there are two organisations to
consider for practical know-how of the film industry; the Film Industry Learner
Mentorship (FILM) and Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking.
20
Further reading:
Turkish filmmaker Nuri
Bilge Ceylan enlisted his
close friends, relatives
and family as actors and
took on almost every
technical role himself: the
cinematography, sound
design, production, editing,
writing and direction in
the production of what
is sometimes referred to
as his ‘provincial trilogy’:
KASABA (The Small Town,
1997), MAYIS SIKINTISI
(Clouds of May, 1999) and
UZAK (Distant, 2002),
Ceylan).
www.nuribilgeceylan.com/
See page 73 for places
to study.
See list of Bursaries
available on page 75.
Further reading:
Want to know the kind
of prospects available
going the hands-on skills
development route as well
as keeping abreast with
opportunities within the
industry, visit FILM
www.filmsa.co.za/
programmes.htm) and Big
Fish: School of Digital
Filmmaking
(www.bigfish.org.za)
FILM
MAKING YOUR FILM
Most film production in the west, and as taught in South Africa, occurs in
three stages:
Development – The idea of the film is developed.
Pre-production –
Preparations are made for the shoot, cast and film
crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built. This is also the stage
in which the ideas for the film are explored and expanded upon, rights to
books/plays are bought, etc.
Production – Raw elements for the finished film are recorded.
Post-Production –
The film is edited; production sound (dialogue)
is concurrently (but separately) edited; if a film has a score, music is
composed, performed and recorded and sound effects are designed and
recorded; and any other computer-graphic ‘visual’ effects are digitally
added; all sound elements are mixed into stems and the stems mixed, then
married to picture and the film is fully locked.
Outside of Hollywood there are also the Nollywood and Bollywood film
industries which can be used as references for production, promotion
and distribution methods and approaches. There are many approaches to
making your film. But keep in mind that the financing of the film has a large
influencing factor in how you go about producing and distributing the film.
TOOLS FOR INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS
Since the introduction of DV technology, means of film-production have become
much more affordable and accessible. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and
edit a film, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut all on
a home computer – in this case one can also learn through experimentation
or trial and error. This technology is user friendly for those with no theoretical,
practical or film experience at all but keen to learn the ‘how to’ .
Software programmes are necessary tools in digital film production – they are
used throughout the process of making a film – from compositing, imaging and
animation, to capturing, and editing. The Dependent Films website has a ‘Tools
and Utilities for Filmmakers’ page listing useful free software for a range of
processes. Find software here: www.dependentfilms.net/files.html
Wiki-how has a range of how-to guides on various aspects of movie making,
from script writing to costuming, to editing and software advice. See selections
of tutorials here: www.wikihow.com/Category:Making-Movies
Definition: DV
technology is a format for
the digital recording and
playing back of digital video.
Film or digital:
Digital movie production
is now the format of choice
for many independent movie
producers. However, there
are those who argue that
shooting on film is a better
way to preserve your work
as digital formats outdate.
21
FILM
FINANCING YOUR FILM
Financing a film can be a daunting task, we touch on a few ways to
approach it below. In an interview with Karen van Schalkwyk (Women of
the Sun), Producer/Director Jihaan El Tahiri noted that the key to making
great films is being able to work with people from all over the world.
“I have worked with the BBC, ARTE, American broadcasters and various
funding organizations like the European Media Fund. It is critical in this
day and age to be able to obtain financing from various sources ... I think
that South African filmmakers must become aware in this regard. If you
want to do big films or feature documentaries you cannot do it just locally,
you have to source other finance.”
Read the article here:
www.womenofthesun.org.
za/jihan_el_tahri.html
Applying to funding organisations
There are many organisations which provide funding to the arts and
specifically towards film. South African Government funding sources are
known to be highly beaureaucratic and there is high competition to get
these funds. You can apply for different aspects of the film from different
people/organisations. General arts funding orgisations might have their
own mandate to fund artistic practice in a particular focus or interest area;
they also have specific geographical focus areas. It is possible that you
can run the risk of having your film shaped by funders' interests. That is,
you make your film based on what can be funded. However, your film can
be repackaged into something different at a later stage.
See page 78 for list of
South African film festivals.
Corporate sponsorship
In this context, sponsorship would be a cash and/or in-kind fee paid towards
a whole or aspect of a film in return for access to the exploitable commercial
potential associated with that film. Unlike philanthropy, sponsorship is
done with the expectation of a commercial return. There are smart ways to
approach this without having your film looking like an advert. Aryan Kaganof
directed the world’s first feature film shot on cellphone. It was shot for less
than 1 million rand and in just twelve days. Sony Ericsson sponsored the film
by providing the W900i cell phones used to shoot the film, as well as assisting
with distribution.
Crowd funding
IndiGoGo
In an interview with Film Threat, one of Indigogo’s co-founders Slava Rubin said
the site is “all about allowing anybody to raise money for any idea.” The site’s
structure enables users to create a page for their funding campaign, set up an
22
Crowd funding
(sometimes called crowd
financing, crowd sourced
capital, or street performer
protocol) describes the
collective cooperation,
attention and trust by people
who network and pool their
money and other resources
together, usually via the
Internet, to support efforts
initiated by other people or
organisations.
IndiGoGo is one such
organisation that provides a
crowd funding platform.
FILM
account with PayPal, make a list of 'perks' for different levels of donation,
and create a social media-based publicity effort. Users publicize the projects
themselves through Facebook, Twitter and similar platforms. The site levies a
4% fee for successful campaigns, and 9% for campaigns that fail to reach their
target amount. Unlike similar sites such as Kickstarter, IndiGoGo disburses the
funds immediately. According to The Wall Street Journal, 10% of IndieGoGo
projects raise their requested amount, while 40% of projects raise at least $500
(US). IndieGoGo is also used by already-funded projects to create publicity or find
distributors. See www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndieGoGo and www.indiGoGo.com
Is IndiGoGo right for you?
www.chrisjonesblog.com/2011/02/is-indiegogo-right-for-you-a-guide-tocrowdfunding-part-1-podcast-with-indiegogo-founder-danae-ringe.html
How to run an Online campaign
www.edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/05/01/online.campaign/
NETWORKING
Most projects in the film industry comprise of crews of freelancers, people are
hired by word of mouth or through agents. Producers usually hire the crew they
worked with on a previous job and if they aren’t available they ask an agent or
someone else for a recommendation. Therefore, it is important to network and
make yourself known to the right people. The best way to do this is to get in
and impress whoever you work with. You have one chance to do this! Having
a good CV and mastering the interview situation is crucial. Depending on what
you do it may be a good idea to have a logo, business cards created or even
brochures/portfolios printed. Showreels are essential for cameramen and
sometimes production designers. Try and meet people already working in the
industry to find out more about the position you are working in and about the
work available.
Excerpted from Guide to getting started in Film & TV, pg 11 (download for free
at www.gautengfilm.org.za/images/stories/2010/Guide-to-getting-started-inFilm-and-TV.pdf).
PROMOTING, DISTRIBUTING
& SELLING YOUR FILM
See: numerous tutorials
on how to approach a job
interview at www.wikihow.
com/Category:InterviewSkills
Definition: a showreel is
a 2 – 4 minute long selection
of your work to show
what you are capable off,
it is not an archive of your
work. You can distribute
it on DVD or on an online
platform.
Further reading:
advice on how to make a
showreel:
www.careerfaqs.com.au/
careers/resumes-and-coverletters-tips/putting-togetheryour-showreel/
It may be easier to shoot and edit a film these days, but you still have to
distribute, market and sell it. Many independent filmmakers rely on film
23
FILM
festivals to build hype about their film and to get it screened and sold for
distribution. A filmmaker might also seek a distribution agent to handle
the circulation and sales of the film for a percentage, or the producer would
function in this capacity also. Outside of Hollywood there are also the
Nollywood and Bollywood film industries which can be used as references for
production, promotion and distribution methods and approaches.
Distribution Agents
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to
the public either theatrically or for home viewing (DVD, Video-On-Demand,
Download, Television programmes through broadcast syndication etc.). A
distributor may do this directly (if the distributor owns the theatres or film
distribution networks) or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors.
Details to consider when making any distribution agreement or plan include
the commission for the agent; the reach of your film; the kind of license of a
programme for your product and the duration of that particular license; the
media platforms (e.g. TV, satellite TV, online transmission, DVD etc.) you want
your work to be featured on; any secondary rights in the production, such as
merchandising, soundtrack etc.; and lastly, the marketing plan informed by
your considerations, to be undertaken by the agent.
Film FestivaLS
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in movie theatres
or screening venues, usually in a single locality. Sometimes there is a focus on
a specific filmmaker or genre or subject matter, typically they are annual events.
Before approaching a film festival to submit your film for screening, look at
what kind of festival it is – what kinds of works are they interested in showing?
Participation in local film festivals is usually free. Bigger festivals can come
with hefty application fees.
According to Valley, a premier screening at renowned and bigger festivals
yields bigger rewards due to more visibility for the filmmaker and the
film. Furthermore this will most likely mean that smaller festivals will be
more interested in screening the film after it has premiered at a more
well-known festival.
24
Find lists of film festivals
here: www.en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/List_of_film_festivals
and here: www.indiewire.
com/festivals?upcoming=1#
Keep it short and
sweet? Read what the
Gauteng Film Commission
says about making a short
film for film festivals at:
www.gautengfilm.co.za/
index.php?option=com_co
ntent&view=article&id=59
0:keeping-it-short-and-swe
et&cati=75:december&Ite
mid=107
IndiGoGo’s Slava
Rubin gives a lecture on
the difficulties of getting
into a film festival. Watch
the video here: www.imeo.
com/4554922
FILM
THE Internet
Be sure that you have your portfolio online also. If you have your own website
then include it there, but also put some of your work on platforms like vimeo
and YouTube. Filmmakers don't necessarily sell work via these platforms, they
are better used for marketing and promotion.
Further reading:
“The Internet as a Sales and
Marketing Tool” chapter on
page 82.
Another growing and very accessible way to distribute your film is via Video on
Demand (VOD) systems. VOD systems allow users to select and watch video
content on demand via their personal computers amongst other options.
Depending on the specificities of the service provider, VOD systems allow viewers
to watch via live streaming on a pay-per-view basis or downloading to a DVR
rented from the provider, or downloaded onto a personal computer, for viewing in
the future.
Some such websites include www.buskfilms.com and www.wally.tv/
Also see www.nofilmschool.com/2011/03/filmmaker-magazine-launches-vodcalendar/ and www.filmmakermagazine.com/vod/
EMPLOYMENT IN THE FILM
& TV INDUSTRY
A good resource for news, upcoming events and jobs available on the
continent is http://www.filmcontact.com/africa
A career in film and TV, also referred to as the digital media or the audiovisual
industry, is multifaceted. There are generally six identified specialities wherein
you can be employed: direction, art direction, animation, the production
department, the unit and transport as well as technical department.
Being versatile and having a broader range of skills is an asset as most job
types in the industry are not mutually exclusive, and job opportunities are
often offered on a part-time basis or project-to-project basis.
Valley, offering advice about placement, believes that feature, short and
independent filmmakers are better off based in Cape Town where the industry
is more geared for this type of work, whereas for work on commercials and in
television it is better to be based in Johannesburg.
25
FILM
A great resource on how to get started in the Film & TV industry is the
Gauteng Film Commission’s Guide to Getting Started. Read and download it
here: www.gautengfilm.org.za/images/stories/2010/Guide-to-getting-startedin-Film-and-TV.pdf
Find work listings at www.docfilmsa.blogspot.com (documentary filmmakers
association); and seek call sheets from production houses and
www.dependentfilms.net/files.html and www.thecallsheet.co.za.
Definition:
a call sheet in
this context can be a call for
entries to festivals or a call
for hiring opportunities; read
more at www.en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Daily_call_sheet
Commissioned work
Doing commissioned work means producing detailed functions within a
specified budget, mandate and timeframe.
After seeing Dylan Valley’s work on Vimeo, an Al Jazeera producer contacted
Valley and eventually commissioned him to produce an insert for Al Jazeera.
Valley advises that because filmmaking is so time consuming, working over a
long period of time means that income is largely accounted for when it comes
in. If you are planning on taking commissioned work, try to have work lined
up, so that you have income coming in when you have completed the previous
job. If for example you have your own independant film, on completion you
could sell the final product in various forms and so have other funds from
sales. You could also sell your film to a broadcaster, who would in turn be
licencencing the film at a cost for a limited period of time. Thereafter, another
broadcaster can licence the same film for a limited period.
Determining what fee to charge for freelance work should be informed by your
experience, skills, qualifications, and in consideration of the type of client you
are quoting for and the current market rate for this service. Also make use of
your network – seek their advice and experience when drafting your quote. If
you are wanting to have full time employment and work on your film ‘on the
side’, it is important to be aware that film work can be very time consuming
and intensive. Going this route could add months or even years to complete a
project, depending on what it is.
Interning
Interning is not always paid work, and if it is, it's more of a stipend than a
market-related wage. It is also usually a short to medium term engagement,
or project specific. Interning however can ‘pay’ in other ways, that is by
giving you an opportunity to build your network; to engage with different
departments or specialities in film or TV and become familiar with what you
like and don't like. It is also an opportunity to practice and develop your skills.
26
See: Screen Africa’s
Regulations and Rates
2010, for guidelines on
what to charge or pay www.
screenafrica.com/download_
files/guides/RegulationsRates-2010.pdf )
See: page 86 & 89
for help
with creating a quote.
FILM
Working for self
Working for yourself requires you to be versatile and to have flexibility of
time or very good time management, to enable you to complete paid work
for sustenance while also pursuing your own creative agenda.
If you can master your time planning, you might be able to overlap your
project and work schedule or work on a couple of projects simultaneously.
This way you could have multiple income streams. For example, you
may steadily develop your independent film for own release, also take on
commissioned work for broadcasters, corporates and organisations, and sell
your service as a cameraman or scriptwriter.
When working for yourself, creating relationships, building trust and
networking are essential. It also helps to be versatile.
*OVERVIEW References:
Mattera, D 2010, Second look at South African Television, National Film
and Video Foundation.
<nfvf.co.za/weblog/2010-06-24/second-look-south-african-television>
Masilela, N 2006, ‘Come Back Africa and South African Film History’
Jump Cut: A review of contemporary media, USA.
<www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC36folder/ComeBackAfrica.
html>
South African History Online
www.sahistory.org.za/arts-and-culture/timeline-history-south-african-filmindustry-1895-2003
www.sahistory.org.za/why-did-so-few-black-south-africans-make-films1990s
www.sahistory.org.za/performing-arts/south-african-film
Wicht, D ‘Why have so many major South African films featured non
South Africans in the starring roles?’ South African History Online.
<www.sahistory.org.za/what-are-challenges-face-south-african-filmindustry>
27
FILM
IN CONVERSATION WITH ARYAN KAGANOF
Caridad Botella Lorenzo interviews Aryan Kaganof about 'SMS Sugar Man'
CB: You moved to the Netherlands to escape apartheid in
South Africa. Could you tell me why you went back?
AK: Actually I moved away from South Africa in 1983 to avoid
doing military service in the apartheid army. I returned to
South Africa in 1999 in order to meet my biological father who
had a non-Hodgkin lymphoma and therefore not long to live. I
lived with him for a year and a half and when he passed away
I changed my name in order to honour my patrilineal bloodline.
CB: Earlier experimental filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas,
Maya Deren and San Brakhage, or movements such as Nouvelle
Vague, are mentioned when defining the archaeology of mobile
phone made films. Using non-standard gauge and cameras is
nothing new after all. What is for you the novelty or revolution of
this medium compared to the past?
AK: Using a phone camera is not loaded with the pretensions
of 'filmmaking'. It does not have the baggage of 'film history'.
One works intuitively with the body as a much more intrinsic part of the framing than with film cameras which centralize
themselves in the framing process, to which the body of the person controlling the camera is in fact exterior. The fluid
and intuitive way of working with framing creates an entirely cyborgian aesthetic that draws attention to itself, if one
is approaching cell phone films from a classical film-making aesthetic. I try not to do so and approach cell phone film
making as an activity in itself, with its own intrinsic aesthetic that I am researching and discovering whilst filming.
CB: In the article “De digitale filmrevolutie.
Allemaal Scheppers” published in Vrij Nederland, you are quoted saying that
your work would have been impossible without the digital revolution. Why has digital suited your purpose so well?
AK: Primarily because it has freed me from the necessity of working with so-called 'producers' who are the carrion of the
film industry.
CB: You made 'SMS Sugar Man' in 2006. Would you use this medium again in the future?
AK: Actually we shot in December 2005, I edited in 2006, waged war with the so-called 'producers' for all of 2007
and finally won my film from their dirty clutches and released it in 2008. Subsequent to 'SMS Sugar Man' I made a
documentary called 'Sally in Winterland: The Making of Dick Tuinder' that I shot on a Nokia N95 phone camera. This
52-minute long documentary had its world premiere in Groningen on 17 April 2009 during the Viva La Focus Mobile
Phone Film Festival.
28
FILM
CB:
You have pointed out that the real theme of 'SMS Sugar Man' is how the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)
programme actually works against black people’s freedom in South Africa, and that this hasn’t been picked up by the
critics. Do you think that novelty of the medium casts a shadow on the real content of the film?
AK: You are absolutely correct.
The technology overwhelms the content to an extent that is quite baffling to me. But on
the other hand I always foreground the technology in my interviews so maybe it is my fault.
CB:
'SMS Sugar Man' was rejected by the Venice Film Festival, which is why you decided to distribute the film through
your own blog or mobile telephony, making the film available to a wider audience. Did you experience this rejection as
something positive after all? (Perhaps it wasn’t negative to begin with...)
AK: Rejection is always positive.
It makes you try harder!
CB: This wide availability contrasts with the fact that your previous films are quite hard to find in DV format in art house
rental shops (in Amsterdam). Will you be distributing more films through the same means?
AK: I would like to sell more DVDs so please demand from the art house rental shops that they get in touch with me and
buy my DVDs for rental! Yay!
CB: The film was screened at the Africa on Screen Film Festival in Johannesburg only this past summer. Why did it take
so long to happen?
AK: Because I was involved in a long and protracted legal battle with the so-called 'producers' over the ownership of the
film.
CB:
In the past years festivals dedicated to phone camera films have flourished, beyond the hype. What is the most
relevant contribution of the medium for the future of filmmaking?
AK: For me it is that I always have a camera on board wherever I go, and therefore I’m always integrating mobile phone
footage in all of my new projects. This happened to great effect in 'The Uprising of Hangberg', a documentary film I made
this year with Dylan Valley. We received a lot of mobile phone footage from resident of Hangberg (Cape Town) who were
brutalized and abused by police. Ordinary people filmed these human rights violations and I could use the footage in the
documentary. It’s a wonderful way for ordinary people to have power to fight back against repressive police, and also to
claim space for themselves, telling their own stories and not allowing the mainstream mass media to have total control
about how the events of our lives are represented in media.
See this and other interviews, articles and writings on and by Kaganof, visit his Kagablog:
www.kaganof.com/kagablog/2011/02/11/caridad-botella-lorenzo-interviews-aryan-kaganof-about-sms-sugar-man/
Also read THE HYENA’S LAST LAUGH: A conversation with Djibril Diop Mambety, by N. Frank
Ukadike, from TRANSITION 78 http://newsreel.org/articles/mambety.htm
29
FILM
CONTRIBUTORS
ARYAN KAGANOF
Aryan Kaganof is a novelist, poet, fine artist and filmmaker. He studied at the Netherlands Film & Television
Academy (1990-1994) in Amsterdam where he majored in film screenwriting and direction. He made his first feature
film while still in the second year of the academy. The film, 'Kyodai Makes The Big Time', caused a commotion in
Europe when it won the Golden Calf for Best Film (the Dutch Oscar equivalent) and the Jozef Von Sternberg Prize
for Most Innovative Narrative Structure, Mannheim International Film Festival (1992). Many prize-winning features,
shorts and documentaries followed. In 1996 he made the world’s first 35mm feature film shot on mini DV tape
– 'Naar De Klote!! (Wasted!)'. He also made the first Japanese feature film shot on mini DV tape and blown up
to 35mm – 'Shabondama Elegy', later released in the USA as 'Tokyo Elegy', it was awarded the Special Jury Prize
Golden Calf Award at the Netherlands Film Festival (1999). A man of firsts, he made the first feature film shot
on Sony Ericsson W900i cell phones - 'SMS Sugar Man'. His other work includes 'Legendary Syd Kitchen' (2011)
and collaborative projects with Dylan Valley 'The Uprising Of Hangberg' (2010). As a dramaturg, Kaganof has most
recently been part of the team that produced 'Afrikaaps' (2010).
Kaganof’s awards include First Prize Best Documentary, Africa & Islands Festival, Reunion, 2003 and First Prize Best
Video Made in Africa, 12th African Film Festival, Milan, 2002 for 'Western' 4.33 as well as First prize, Best Film, Madrid
International Experimental Film Festival 1994 for 'Ten Monologues From The Lives Of The Serial Killers'.
DYLAN VALLEY
Dylan Valley is a South African filmmaker, born and raised in Cape Town. He makes films about music, street culture,
heritage and social issues in Cape Town. In 2009, he was included in the Mail & Guardian’s list of 300 ‘Young
South Africans you have to take to lunch’. Hip-Hop music led Valley to incorporate this style into his passion for
documentary filmmaking.
Valley graduated from the University of Cape Town with a degree in Film and Media and postgraduate in Film Theory
and Practice. During this time he interned at e-TV for 2 months. In 2005, as his final university project, he made a
10 minutes documentary about the history of the Cape Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) scene. In 2006 for his final
thesis, Valley co-produced ‘Lost Prophets’ with his co-producer and collaborator Sean Drummond. The documentary
has been screened at various film festivals in South Africa, including Encounters Film Festival.
In 2007, he created with City Varsity graduates the production company Be Phat Motel. At this time, he worked
at Headwrap as a researcher and trainee director where he later directed some of the famous episodes from the
series including ‘Hip Hopera’ and ‘Awareness thru Colours’. With Be Phat Motel Company, Valley developed a feature
length documentary, called ‘Afrikaaps’ which explores the history of Afrikaans using Hip Hop, humour and personal
perspective. The documentary was released in 2010. Valley is now working on a documentary about a gang member
who becomes a gospel rapper, titled ‘Incarcerated Knowledge’. Valley has also started work on a theatre and
multimedia production on the history of Afrikaans, told through hip-hop. Other productions by Valley include ‘Wild of
Skuld’ and ‘Gatsby’.
30
FILM
RESOURCES
ORGANISATIONS:
REGULATORS
South African Guild of Animators
Northcliff 2115
Johannesburg
Phone: 011 787 7300
Broadcasting Complaints
Commission of SA
www.bbcsa.co.za
South African Guild of Editors (SAGE)
Melville, 2109, Johannesburg
Phone: 011 726 2675
Independent Broadcasting Authority
(IBA)
www.iba.org.za
South African Scriptwriter’s
Association
Aukland Park, 2005, Johannesburg
E-mail: saswa@global.co.za
Phone: 011 678 3838
National Film & Video Foundation
www.nfvf.co.za
DISTRIBUTORS
STER KINEKOR
www.sterkinekor.com
UIP
Benmore, 2010
Phone: 011 883 3710
Videovision Entertainment
www.videovision.co.za
COLLECTIVES
Congress of South African Writers
Association (COSAW)
Fordsburg, Johannesburg, 2033
Phone: 011 838 2893
National Television and Video Association (NATVA)
Phone: 011 789 6506
www.ntva.org.za
Performing Arts Worker’s Equity
(PAWE)
Phone: 011 403 6234
E-mail: pawe@icon.co.za
South African Art Department Guild
13 Percy Street, Yeoville, 2158
Johannesburg, Phone: 011 648 2270
SA Society of Cinematographers
(SASC)
Phone: 011 788 0802
E-mail: sasc@mweb.co.za
Indie Films
Phone: 021 462 1665
E-mail: centrald@gem.co.za
European Documentary Network
www.edn.dk
Phone: +45 33 13 1122
Southern African Communication for
Development (SACOD)
www.sacod.org.za
FURTHER INFO
(Books, audiovisual
resources and links to
other resource lists):
African Film Library
www.africanfilmlibrary.com
Beck, RM 2004 African media cultures: transdisciplinary perspectives,
Köppe.
Department of Arts and Culture,
Science and Technology 1998,
The South African Film and Television Industry Report: Cultural Industry Growth Strategy, South Africa.
www.info.gov.za/view/
DownloadFileAction?id=70492
Film Resource Unit
www.fru.co.za
iTunes University
www.apple.com/education/itunes-u
National Film & Video Foundation:
Publications
nfvf.co.za/publications
Recommended Reading
nfvf.co.za/screenwriting/recommended-reading
SA Film
www.safilm.org.za/film/advice.html
www.safilm.org.za/film/practical.html
www.safilm.org.za/reading/books.html
South African History Online, South
African Film.
www.sahistory.org.za/performing-arts/
south-african-film
South African History Online, Timeline: A history of the South African
film industry 1895-2003.
www.sahistory.org.za/arts-andculture/timeline-history-south-africanfilm-industry-1895-2003
The Callsheet
www.thecallsheet.co.za
The Filmmakers guide to South
Africa
www.filmmakersguide.co.za
Cape Film Commision
www.capefilmcommision.co.za
31
PERFORMING ARTS
Dance is movement that speaks
a universal language without
uttering a word. The best
instrument is your body, it can
create a picture without a pen.
Mamela Nyamza
Dancer and Educationalist
PERFORMING
ARTS
PERFORMING ARTS
OVERVIEW
Performing Arts is expressive communication witnessing, representing and imagining the world using the body,
face and presence as a medium. In South Africa, performing arts and dance comprise about 19% of the creative
industries (CreateSA, 2003).
The performing arts sector has a rich and vibrant tradition in South Africa. It was an outlet for social commentary
and protest under apartheid and continues to reflect issues of relevance to a democratic South Africa. Alongside
the social commentary aspect of the sector, there are a number of types of activities that are primarily focused
on entertainment, as well as those that combine the two. The diversity of activities is mirrored by the types of
organisations and individuals within the sector. There are a number of large government subsidised theatres, a
growing number of privately owned theatres, a diverse range of community groups, more formally organised dance
troupes and production companies and a large number of individuals work on a contractual basis.
Historically, professional dance in South Africa was the privilege of a white minority who prioritised Western
styles. Consequently, other forms of dancing – grouped as ‘traditional’ or ‘native’- were considered infantile
forms of dance and dismissed. The advent of the ‘changing wind’ in the 1970s paved the way for the fusing of
classical choreography with traditional styles. For instance the founding of Cape Town’s Jazzart Dance Theatre,
Johannesburg’s Free Flight Company and Moving Into Dance (MIDM)- Mophatong, the Soweto Dance Company,
Napac and Pact Dance Companies and Fuba (Federated Union of Black Artists), represented an evolution in
contemporary South Africa dance development both administratively and artistically.
Contemporary work ranges from normal preconceptions of movement and performance art or performance theatre,
to the completely unconventional whilst afrofusion is definable as an eclectic dance that fuses what is recognised
as formal dance training or classical forms of movement with what is recognised as traditional e.g. Afrikaans sokkie,
Xhosa Amakwenkwe and Umteyo and Sesotho Mohobelo to jive, gumboot dance, pantsula etc.
The success locally and internationally of home grown productions such as Richard Loring’s ‘African Footpint’
and ‘Umoja’ by Richard Loring and Todd Twala and Thembi Nyandeni respectively is testament to the growth and
inclusivity of South Africa dance. Pioneering artists such as Mamela Nyamza, Sylvia Glasser, Tossie van Tonder,
Carly Dibokwane, Adele Blank, Robyn Orlin, Moeketsi Koena, and Gregory Vuyani Maqoma created and continue to
generate a new vocabulary of dance, working with their own companies, directing as well as inspiring and nurturing
local talent.
* References on page 39
33
PERFORMING ARTS HANDBOOK
TRAINING
Studying the Performing Arts can give one theoretical grounding, but
according to University of Cape Town Drama Lecturer, Mwenya Kabwe,
going through a formal tertiary education system gives you access to existing
networks – something the performing arts scene is very reliant on. Kabwe:
“getting work can be about who you know and who sees you. A performer
with formal training gains credibility in these networks - whether real or not –
giving him or her a ‘leg-up’ when entering the work field.”
Dancer and choreographer Mamela Nyamza says “sometimes CV’s are
asked for when applying for funding, or when applying for work as a teacher
in the discipline, or any invitation. You are always asked about your skills.
My education helped me as currency in the field to be awarded a fellowship
at the University of Cape Town next year, so yes, studying is very important
sometimes. Although sometimes there are other ways of gaining that
knowledge, but the education you have directs which field you enter for
example academic or artistic.”
“Being unique, original, authentic and some training on what you are
expressing on stage can make a huge difference to your work as you are
deconstructing what you know, more than just being on stage. People become
curious about your work and you start to have followers.”
PRACTICE
Practice makes perfect? But how does one practice the performing arts?
Kabwe suggests initially taking every role which comes your way – it will
increase your visibility if it’s well paid commercial work, it will keep you afloat
financially, and it will give you the opportunity to work with new people, and in
new roles. These possibilities are all forms of practice.
Actress Quanita Adams likens being an actor to being an athlete: “Even
though we are athletes of sorts, we don’t have a track to run around, or a
beam to balance on, or a mat to tumble on or a court to practise on. I do think
that as actors we should be treating our bodies well, especially our voices. I
will be the first person to admit it's only when I am engaged in theatre that I
go through vocal warm-ups. Really I should be doing that sort of thing every
day. I think you get better while you work. You learn things, shortcuts, tricks,
techniques on how to improve your own craft, how to get what is required out
of yourself - faster, more intensely, more intently. I am also always watching
people, listening, putting different characters into my brain and body so I have
an arsenal of characters that I can draw from when I am working on a new
part. Also learning lines is important. I think just always learn, always pay
attention. That’s how you practise.”
34
See page 73 for list of
dance specific training
institutions.
PERFORMING ARTS
When Nyzama is developing new work, she puts a lot of emphasis initially on
research: “Yes, dancers do research. I do that a lot when going into new work,
especially as someone who deals with social issues. I must research what
I’m about to talk about on stage, as we communicate with our bodies more
than we speak, but it’s still the same as talking. We write the stories with our
bodies and souls, we speak on stage and in return we move the audience.
Now at 35 I don’t move the same way I used to when I was younger. I move
differently now and so look for new ways of moving, by doing that I challenge
myself as a dancer and performer.”
WORK
A performance artist might be invited or commissioned to perform; be
employed by a company on a short or long term basis; or create his or her
own performances. Employment can come via various Dance and Theatre
companies however, very few companies have all their employees as full
time personnel. Most often this applies to dance companies and very seldom
theatre companies.
PERFORMING ARTS COMPANIES
There are generally 3 types of performing arts companies:
An Independent producer is an individual who puts shows together and
employs performers on an ad hoc basis.
A Company will have some full time employees but mostly ad hoc performers,
that is they will employ as and when roles are needed, such as The Magnet
Theatre, Cape Town.
A full-time company will typically have full-time employed performers such as
The South African Ballet Theatre.
COMMISSIONED WORK & EMPLOYMENT
Nyamza says “as a self-employed artist I rely a lot on commissions and
invitations internationally and nationally. Sometimes I create my own platform
where I invite people to a new show and do it from nothing. There is no
commission but the results are usually huge and fulfilling.”
You have to be seen and known to be commissioned. Kabwe suggests that
when starting out – take all work that comes your way. You can grow your
experience, get yourself seen, and if it’s commercial work, earn money for it
too. Here are some things to do to increase your commissioned work:
For updated listings
of work opportunities
available visit www.pansa.
co.za/opportunities
35
PERFORMING ARTS
Get listed with a casting agency: Your profile will be readily accessible to
potential clients approaching the agency. Casting agencies are agencies
that are searching for talented people in different fields like singing, acting,
modeling, dancing and others for different kinds of projects including TV,
advertising and film.
Get the audition right: There are numerous tips, guides and step-by-step
approaches on how to approach a range of audition types on www.wikihow.
com/Category:Auditioning
Remember when you go to take a few copies of your CV and headshots with you.
CREATING WORK
Regarding freelance work, Nyamza says “most dancers do freelance work
due to lack of finances and funding which is a sad case when it comes to
individuals like myself, this is why we perform more internationally than
at home. I used to do music videos, modelling, all of that, but now as an
established artist it’s hard to work for others as I am also an artist doing my
own work, unless it’s a collaboration with another artist of my calibre.”
In Cape Town there are only a handful of companies which produce regularly,
meaning freelance work opportunities can be scarce and competitive.
Artists, according to Mwenya, should constantly be considering where
they would like to perform, the audience they would like to reach and who
they would like to work with so as to avoid being in a vulnerable position.
Kabwe maintains that theatre is a small industry and as such it is important
to know how to make and market your own work so that you are not entirely
dependent on agents to find work for you.
36
See page 81 for list of
casting agencies.
PERFORMING ARTS
THE SECTOR: PROS & CONS
According to Quanita Adams: “One needs muscle to be an actor, and different formats: TV, movie, commercial, or
theatre, industrial theatre, corporate theatre, musical theatre etc, these need different muscles. I’m glad my academic
career has had the trajectory it’s had. My professional career is still on a learning curve. That’s how it should be. I think
so anyway." Based on her experience, Adams sums up the pros and cons of working in various Performing Arts sectors:
STAGE
Pros
"Theatre is live and immediate and completely visceral. There are no second chances. It’s about precisely why we
do what we do. The magic. Hard to describe. One needs to be doing many plays a year for it to make sense from
a financial point of view. Having said that, if you get it right, you can have nice breaks in between. It requires you
to have a strong handle on your finances. If you’re lucky, as I have been, you get to travel all over the world! That’s
an awesome plus."
Cons
"Not great money. Exhausting. Very few cons."
TV
Pros
"Nice money, mostly. High visibility, great for profile building. If you want to be a celebrity, then that’s the way
to go. People will stop you in the street blah di blah. Reasonable amount of financial security if you land a nice
contract on a soapie or a daily drama."
Cons
"You get stuck in contracts and you are often not available to do other work, because you are not available.
People stop you in the street blah di blah."
FILM
Pros
"It's awesome! I love film! I love set! I love it all! The walky talkies, the angry production people (well maybe
not them so much) the crew, other actors, even the stupid early morning call times. Sense of family almost.
Opportunity to make nice money."
Cons
"All of the above, if it’s a kak project. There’s also commercials, which are ideal, you can stand to make very good
money over a short space of time and it won’t tie up your time for too long."
37
PERFORMING ARTS
in conversation with Quanita Adams
On learning
From a very early age, I always knew that I would somehow be involved
in the arts. Initially, while I enjoyed performance, attended drama classes,
performed in a choir and participated in school plays, I was always
determined to be a visual artist and live off my work and die poor. After
school I enrolled at Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of
Cape Town, but after two years of being unhappy and frustrated at the
institution, I left. I made a small migration, that is, to the building across
the drive, to the Drama School.
My motivation at that point was to finish a flippen degree, and I wasn’t
leaving that campus without some form of academic credibility! So I chose
the BA degree which focuses on theory and I ended up doing my honours
with teaching and directing as my majors. I feel like, in a weird way, I don’t
have the performer training, certainly not from a school point of view. I did
the BA, which really is more theory based, though we did have a practical
component to our course, once a week.
Having said that, I have a kind of perspective on training and I feel it is important to understand what it takes to
be a performer. I learnt it through experienced situations, from some of the best practitioners in this country.
There are so many young people who leave drama school thinking they will simply land big gigs by virtue of the
fact that they have a piece of paper that says they are performers; or can ‘y-buzz’ the heck out of any vocal warmup. That’s simply not the case. It’s about understanding one's place at any given time in the industry and having
the grace to know that one is always in a position to learn. I feel like I know the theory enough to know which bits
to discard and which bits to retain and which bits need to be revisited and reworked. It requires a kind of fitness
and agility, and that can be honed over time, time spent working.
It was while I was doing this post-grad degree that I was given the opportunity to perform in my first professional
production. Lara Bye directed me in an ensemble cast in a production of Ntozake Shange’s 'For Colored Girls…'
It was exhilarating. Felt right. We won an award. On opening night, I stared down at my bare feet on the stage,
on standby, waiting to go onto stage. My toes were on the stage of the Baxter. Suddenly, my childhood came
flooding back, smells, sounds, sensory flashbacks of shouting at Goldilocks in whatever the kiddie production
was being staged at the Baxter. I was now on the other side, on stage blinded by the lights, not being able to
see beyond the second row. I heard laughter, sighs, and also someone stifle a sob – and it was me eliciting that
response. I have travelled all over the world in my career, and I want to make people feel. Something. Anything.
That’s why I do this. Still.
38
PERFORMING ARTS
On Finances and Challenges
What challenges? Access to spaces, there are many theatre spaces, particularly in Joburg that need to
be re-energised, and used for exciting and dynamic, or even mundane theatre storytelling dance art music
collaborative projects. And also, funding, that’s a challenge.
Early in my career I had an accelerated experience. I was, and still am incredibly blessed to not have had too
many challenges early on. I was lucky to work with amazing directors, producers, and other actors on stage, as
well as on the small and big screen. I can’t really complain without sounding disingenuous.
Personally, I sometimes feel pigeonholed, particularly for television, which sometimes feels like a very racialised
space. There are clear and suffocatingly small boxes that one needs to squeeze into. Fact is, I’m not tall or thin
or the kind of pretty that people want to see on television. So sometimes it’s hard trying to convince people that I
am enough. Also, at the moment I’m in this weird transition space age-wise, where I am not young enough to be a
believable young type, but I don’t look old enough to be the mommy with 2.5 kids. But agh, that’s my own issue.
I don’t really rate my work financially. Some of the most awesome jobs I’ve done have been for next to nothing,
if not free. I joke that I will work with great people on a great project for the princely sum of a Nando’s quarterchicken-meal. True story. I have loved working on 'At Her Feet'. It has won me awards, acclaim, the respect of my
peers, garnered me a loyal audience and following and seen me travel abroad, including to New York – twice. It
really shaped my idea of the kind of performer I want to be – to be able to have a transformative effect on my
audience with my storytelling, shift people’s ideas about the world they live in, if only for the time they spend with
me in the theatre.
'Truth In Translation', also saw me travelling the world and focused specifically on the importance of storytelling
as part of a kind of restorative justice. That galvanised my idea of the kind of actor that I want to be in the world.
Though, again, having said that, everything I have done has been memorable and valuable, even the duds! I have
worked with people that have been dangerous, so I learnt never to work with them again. I did a music tribute
show as part of a girl-band called Las Motowns which took me to Mallorca where I lived and performed under
the craziest conditions. But I still got to have a Mediterranean summer! I did a show that burnt Artscape’s main
theatre down. Well, if nothing else they make for great anecdotes around a braai.
On Support
Congrats to everyone out there creating work, in what can be very difficult circumstances. We need to continue
to mobilise support for our union, SAGA. I am a member – I have to be. It’s the closest I will come to having my
interests protected as an actor. We don’t fall under labour, so historically it’s been hard to legally protect our
interests or have any kind of credible intervention when dealing with issues of bad practice. Now we have joined
a larger body that represents unions for professionals so at least we have some weight when dealing with issues
that affect us. We need to have set standards in our industry so we can no longer be taken advantage of, as
actors, but also anyone involved in this industry. We also need to stop singing the same one note samba and get
proactive and create work, create networks, create opportunities with and for each other. Be supportive.
* Constructed from an interview with Quanita Adams, conducted by Rucera Seethal, November 2011.
39
PERFORMING ARTS
CONTRIBUTORS
Mamela Nyamza
Award-winning dancer, community activist and educationalist Nyamza’s accolades include being the primary
recipient of the 2011 Standard Bank Young Artist Award in Dance and a 2012 Donald Gordon Creative Fellow.
She has performed in major international musicals including 'The Lion King', 'We Will Rock' and 'African Footprints';
done choreography work for 'So You Think You Can Dance' (2008); has represented South Africa at 'The Super Stars
of Dance', Los Angeles (2008); directed dance at Sadlers Wells (London) in 2009; and participated in international
events such as 2008 Impulstanz at the Vienna International Dance Festival. Nyamza’s commissioned clients include
Dance Umbrella and Baxter Theatre, the National Arts Council, Goethe-Institut (JHB), British Council, Standard
Bank and the National Arts Fund as well as New Dance Festival for which she choreographed 'Mendi And Khuteni',
'i-Dolls Hatch', 'i-Dolls', 'Abangxolayo', 'Shift', 'Isingqala & Amafongkong' and 'Hatched' respectively. She has also
choreographed works for Likwezi Dance, Dance for All, Cape Junior Ballet, Cape Dance Company, Jikeleza Dance
School, ZAMA Dance School, Jazzart Dance Company and Free Flight Dance Company.
Born in Gugulethu, Cape Town, Nyamza received early training at ZAMA Dance School (where she later became
vice principle), and has a National Diploma in Ballet from the Tshwane University of Technology and further training
from the ALVIN Ailey American Dance center and Dance Webber (Vienna). Her work deals with contemporary South
African political and societal issues which explore questions such as gender and sexuality.
MWENYA KABWE
Mwenya Kabwe is a Zambian born theatre-maker currently living and working in Cape Town, with other home bases
in New York and Lusaka. She is a graduate from the University of Cape Town’s Masters programme in Theatre and
Performance, and she is currently a lecturer and course coordinator in the Drama Department. Kabwe is a recipient
of the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) 2008 award for Best Upcoming Professional Artist and the 2008
Fleur du Cap award for Best Actress for her performance as Alma in 'Yellowman'. Kabwe is also one of the seven
Spier Contemporary 2007 winners for a collaborative performance work titled unyawo alunampumlo and was on the
Spier Contemporary 2010 selection and curatorial team.
Kabwe’s original performance work has been showcased at the Drill Hall in Johannesburg ('Please Do Not Leave
Your Baggage Unattended', 2007), Out the Box Festival ('For Nomads Who Have Considered Settling When The
Travel Is Enuf', 2007 and '27 Windows, 4 Doors and 2 Taps', 2010) and the UNESCO Chair International Festival
of Theatre Schools, Barcelona Spain ('Afrocartography: Traces of Places and all points in between', 2008). Kabwe
is a co-founder of manje-manje projects, an arts collective that was launched with an exhibition at the Association
for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery in Cape Town, titled 'Scratching The Surface Vol 1'. Kabwe is also a member of The
Bonfire Theatre Company, Phakma Projects and UNIMA South Africa. Besides writing original poetic texts for her
own performance work, Kabwe’s publications include an article in the South African Theatre Journal (SATJ) Vol. 21,
(2007) titled ‘Transgressing Boundaries: Making Theatre from an Afropolitan Perspective’; as well as ‘Untethered
in a Performance of Afrohybrid’ (April 2008), published in the catalogue for an exhibition titled FLOW at The Studio
Museum in Harlem, New York. Kabwe’s writing has also featured in Rootz Africa Magazine Volume 21, 2008 with an
article titled ‘Afrophobia Exposed’
40
PERFORMING ARTS
QUANITA ADAMS
After graduating from drama school at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Quanita performed in her first professional
production. It was a ‘Boney M’ tribute show, directed by Heinrich Reisenhoffer, and was staged at On Broadway.
An accomplished vocalist, she went on to sing in a Mowtown tribute show in Mallorca in 2000. The following year,
she returned to Cape Town and UCT where she completed her drama honours. In the same year she performed in
Lara Bye’s production of ‘For Colored Girls…’ for which the cast won a Fleur de Cap award. In the same year she
performed in a one woman show called ‘At Her Feet’, written and directed by then master’s student Nadia Davids.
The highly acclaimed show went on to run for ten years and garnered both writer/director and actor Fleur de Caps.
It toured extensively, including a stint in Holland, and twice in New York. In 2010 it was performed in London, as
part of the Book Fair. Other theatre credits include ‘Wit’, ‘Twaalfde Nag’, ‘Valley Song’, and ‘Truth In Translation’,
which opened in Rwanda, and returned from a tour, in 2007, including The Edinburgh Festival, where it won a Fringe
First Award, then various states in America, Sweden and finally Northern Ireland. In 2008 the production toured the
Balkans, in various towns and cities in Bosnia-Herzigovina, Serbia, Cossovo, and Croatia. In late 2007, early 2008
she was once again directed by Reisenhofer, this time in an Afrikaans theatre production called ‘Kroes’. In 2008, in
both Grahamstown and Cape Town she performed in Nadia Davids’ new play, called ‘Cissie’, playing four different
parts, for which she has subsequently received a Fleur du Cap award for best supporting actress.
Film credits include the lead, Sannie Grootboom, in ‘Forgiveness’, for which she was awarded the inaugural SAFTA,
Golden Horn for Best Actress In A Feature Film in 2006. She has also performed in 'Cape Of Good Hope', which won
the audience choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, the short film ‘Ongeriewe’, which made the official selection,
and was a finalist at Cannes 2006. This year, she was seen in Tim Greene’s ‘Skeem’.
Her television appearances include being a presenter for Vuyani Mzansi; co-hosting SABC2 lifestyle programme
Pasella, KyKnet’s Orion and Villa Rosa; Intersexions; American hospital drama series, E.R.; BBC’s popular drama
series, Holby City.
In 2006, she made her directorial debut, when she directed Jenny Stead and Anton Luitingh in a Simon and
Garfunkel tribute show called ‘Old Friends’, at On Broadway.
Adams is also the voice of Pearl, in the popular SAFM radio drama Radio Vuka.
41
PERFORMING ARTS
RESOURCES
ORGANISATIONS
Cape Town City Ballet
www.capetowncityballet.org.za
Dramatic, Artistic and Literary
Rights Organisation (DALRO)
www.dalro.co.za
National Arts Council (NAC)
www.nac.org.za
National Association of Model
Agencies (NAMA)
Contact: Paola de Vito,
Phone: 021 433 0300
www.nama.co.za
Performing Arts Network of South
Africa (PANSA)
www.pansa.co.za
FURTHER INFO
(Books, audiovisual
resources, and links to
other resource lists):
African Arts Institute and the Arterial Network Publications:
• Arts and culture information
directory
ISBN # 978-0-9869896-8-1
• Arts advocacy & networking toolkit
ISBN # 978-0-9869896-3-6
• Arts fundraising toolkit
ISBN# 978-0-9869896-4-3
• Project Management Toolkit for
Arts and Culture
ISBN# 978-09869900-2-1
www.africanartsinstitute.org.za
www.arterialnetwork.org
Personal Managers Association
www.pmatalent.co.za
ART21 Video Library
www.video.pbs.org/program/art-21/
www.art21.org/teach
South African Association of Stills
Producers (SAASP)
www.saasp.co.za
ArtBabble
www.artbabble.org/channel/Performance_Art
South African Community Theatre
Association
www.sancta.org.za
Battenfield, J 2009, The artist’s
guide: Making a living doing what
you love, Da Capo Press
Technical Production Services
Association (TPSA)
www.tpsa.co.za
Artscape Resource Centre
www.artscape.co.za/resource-centre
Theatre Managements of South
Africa (TMSA)
www.tmsa.org.za
Freedthinkers 2005, Developing
audiences for Joburg Live Arts,
City of Johannesburg.
Gauteng Provincial Government,
Gauteng’s Creative Industries:
The performing arts sector
http://www.sacr.gpg.gov.za/Documents/Creative%20Ind/Performing%20Arts%20Sector.pdf
42
iTunes University
www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
Joburg News 2007, ‘Joburg is SA’s
Culture Capital’, South Africa.
www.joburgnews.co.za/2007/aug/
aug7_theatres.stm
Lebethe, A. 2003, Promoting
the Culture Sector through Job
Creation and Small Enterprise
Development in SADC Countries:
Performing Arts and Dance, ILO
Working Paper 52, Geneva.
Multi-media List
video.pbs.org/subject/957383343
South Africa.info 2008, Afrofusion:
dance in South Africa.
www.southafrica.info/ess_info/
sa_glance/culture/dance.htm
South African Theatre Journal (SATJ)
Vol. 21, (2007), Transgressing
Boundaries: Making Theatre from
an Afropolitan Perspective,
Performing Arts Network of South
Africa (PANSA): Document Templates
www.pansa.co.za/groundwork/
document-templates
Perfoming Arts Network of South
Africa (PANSA) 2005, Towards an
understanding of the South African
theatre Industry, South Africa.
Performing Arts Network of South
Africa (PANSA): Playwrights
www.pansa.co.za/groundwork/
writers-corner
PERFORMING ARTS
THEATRES
CAPE TOWN
Artscape Theatre Centre
www.artscape.co.za
Centurion Teater
www.centurionteater.co.za
Encore Complex
www.encorecomplex.co.za
Baxter Theatre
www.baxter.co.za
Malva store
286 Fox Street
Phone: 0843 082 024
The Fugard Theatre
www.thefugard.com
Market Theatre
www.markettheatre.co.za/
Magnet Theatre
www.magnettheatre.co.za
Peter Taylor Projects (pTp)
Phone: 011 022 9765
Masque Theatre Muizenberg
Phone: 021-788 6999
www.masquetheatre.co.za
Peoples Theatre
www.peoplestheatre.co.za/
Maynardville Open Air Theatre
20 Piers Street, corner Wolfe Road,
Wynberg
www.maynardville.co.za
Milnerton Playhouse
www.milnertonplayers.com
Playhouse Theatre in Somerset West
www.theplayhouse.co.za
Theatre on the Bay
www.theatreonthebay.co.za
On Broadway Theatre Cape Town
www.onbroadway.co.za
The Victory Theatre
www.victorytheatre.co.za
Windybrow Theatre (The)
www.windybrowarts.co.za/
Wits Theatre
web.wits.ac.za/witstheatre
* OVERVIEW
References:
Gauteng Provincial Government,
‘Background’ Gauteng’s Creative
Industries: The performing arts
sector.
<www.sacr.gpg.gov.za/Documents/
Creative%20Ind/Performing%20
Arts%20Sector.pdf>
Green J, 2011, ‘Alterating Conditions: Performing performance
art in South Africa’ Networked
Performance.
<turbulence.org/blog/2011/01/17/
alterating-conditions-performingperformance-art-in-south-africajohannesburg/>
Media Club South Africa
www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/
index.php?option=com_content&vie
w=article&id=711:heritage030908&
catid=43:culturenews&Itemid=112#
ixzz1eJL8LbUI
South Africa.Info: About Arts &
Dance
www.southafrica.info/about/arts/
dance.htm#ixzz1eJFXsddV
SA Arts and Cultrue
www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/artscult.
htm
JOHANNESBURG
The Joburg Theatre
www.joburgtheatre.com
National Children's Theatre
www.jyt.co.za
Brooklyn Theatre
www.brooklyntheatre.co.za
43
VISUAL ARTS
My works is first and foremost
directed by my concepts, ideas
and experiments. All these,
through a thought process and
experimenting direct, and suggest
the final materialization of any
work and or project.
Kemang wa Lehulere
Multi-media Artist
VISUAL ARTS
44
VISUAL ARTS
OVERVIEW
South Africa's visual art history is rich, dense and complex. South Africa itself is home to some of the most ancient
and beautiful art in the world — the rock art of the ancestors of today’s Bushman or San. It is also the scene of a
host of diverse and challenging contemporary artists producing important new work.
During the colonial era, artists tended to concentrate on depicting this 'new world' in detail and as accurately as they
could make it, though sometimes this led to selective emphasis. Artists such as Thomas Baines travelled the country
recording its flora, fauna, people and landscapes, a form of reporting for people back in the colonial metropolis.
Towards the end of the 19th century, painters Jan Volschenk and Hugo Naudé and the sculptor Anton van Wouw
began, through their work, to establish a locally rooted art. Their work is the first glimpse of an artistic vision
engaging with life as lived in South Africa, for its own sake, rather than as a 'report' to the colonial master. It is
the art of the moment in which South Africa, with Union in 1910 and thus the formal end of the colonial era, was
beginning to acquire its own national identity.
In the first decades of the 20th century, the Dutch-born painter JH Pierneef brought a coolly geometric sensibility
to the South African landscape, finding in it a strict but beautiful order. He also, in a way that fed into Afrikaner
nationalist ideology, found it bereft of human inhabitants.
By the 1930s, two women artists, Maggie Laubscher and Irma Stern, brought a different kind of subjective gaze to
South African art by using the techniques and sensibilities of post-impressionism and expressionism. Their bold way
with colour and composition, and the assumption of a highly personal point of view, rather scandalised those with
old-fashioned concepts of acceptable art. Yet already younger artists such as Gregoire Boonzaier, Maud Sumner and
Moses Kottler were rejoicing in the new spirit of cosmopolitanism they were able to bring to South African art.
From the 1930s onward, Gerard Sekoto portrayed urban African life in places such as Sophiatown and District Six,
vital and tumultuous hotspots of an emerging though still unacknowledged black culture. Other emerging black
artist of the time include George Pemba, John Koenakeefe Mohl and Dumile Feni who went into exile in 1968, and
died in New York in 1991.
Black artists also made striking use of the accessible and relatively cheap medium of the linocut. Among those who
used it to great effect were Azaria Mbatha and John Muafangejo. In the 1980s and 1990s, artists such as William
Zulu, Vuyile Cameron Voyifwa, Cyprian Shilakoe and others extended linocut work into what has become practically a
subgenre of its own in South African artistic practice.
Conceptual art in South Africa - which had had significant though muted beginnings in earlier decades - seemed
to come into its own in the 1990s. There are many other artists at work in South Africa today, making art from
a huge range of materials and pushing the boundaries of what art itself consists of. Through their very works,
they ask what art's position is in a society in transition from the repressive limitations of the past to the scary
uncertainties of the future.
Read more: http://www.southafrica.info/about/arts/art
and: http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/towards-peoples-culture-art-and-resistance-under-apartheid
45
VISUAL ARTS HANDBOOK
TRAINING
As with film, music, and the performing arts, a huge benefit of coming up through
a credible institution or organisation in South Africa, is that your work will be seen
by, and you will be in a position to meet with, an existing network of people already
practicing and/or influential within the visual arts world.
For example, photographer Mimi Cherono Ng’ok attended the Michaelis
School of the Fine Arts, University of Cape Town (UCT). Upon her photographic
work being viewed by a gallery representative at the final students’ year-end
show, Ng’ok was fortunate to be booked for an exhibition by the gallery.
On the other hand, Kemang wa Lehulere had always wanted to study but
could not afford to. “When I won the Spier Contemporary art award in 2007
I took the opportunity (to study). Working with Thembinkosi Goniwe who
was a mentor at the time also influenced my choice to go to Wits instead of
UCT. I think education in all its forms (formal and informal) is important as a
means towards understanding the world, which is of utmost importance for
any creative intellectual... I read a lot, from newspapers to novels, academic
texts and non-academic texts, from history and what is current. Every human
expression is important to understanding the world.”
If studying is an unaffordable option, consider enquiring with the institution
you are interested in whether they allocate bursaries for your field of interest.
Interning and volunteering at arts organisations or working under a respected
artist are also beneficial ways of getting hands on training, of meeting people in
the field and gaining personal exposure.
See page 73
for
places to study.
See list including
bursaries available
on page 75.
For a listing of
galleries visit
GALLERIES
www.southafrica.info/
travel/cultural/galleries.htm;
http://www.artthrob.co.za/
Galleries/
The Commercial Gallery is a financially-based space that usually
works on a process of building their own stable of artists who they
represent, and will show on a regular basis in both group and solo shows;
establishing an ongoing relationship with their artists e.g. Goodman
Gallery, Michael Stevenson Contemporary, Bell-Roberts, Joao Ferreira and
Whatiftheworld Gallery.
List of gallery models or
types isexcerpted from
Africa Centre & the Visual
Arts Network of South
Africa (VANSA) 2008, The
Artist’s Handbook: A Guide
to the Business of the Arts,
Africa Centre, South Africa.
Available for free download
from http://www.scribd.
com/doc/56411856/TheArtists-Handbook-01
There are several models or types within the Gallery structure:
The Association is a committee-based, non-profit organization. They
are often open to community-based projects and they work on a submission
basis as opposed to keeping a stable of artists, e.g. Association of Visual Arts,
KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts.
46
Further reading:
The Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University
lists and expands on Studio
Arts, Printmaking and
Illustration career options:
www.nmmu.ac.za/default.
asp?id=6308&sid=&bhcp=1
VISUAL ARTS
The Institutional Gallery is linked to an institution, often a
university or education centre. They usually work on a submissions basis
and are not-for-profit, though they do sell work and take a commission
e.g. The Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town Irma Stern, UNISA
Gallery, University of Stellenbosch Gallery.
The Project Space
is a not-for-profit, submission-based space that
encourages young and experimental artists e.g. blank projects space.
The Museum
is usually a state-funded cultural institution that
functions to display, collect and preserve important works. It often
displays works from its own collection or curated group shows. It is a
non-commercial space and works are never exhibited for sale, e.g. South
African National Gallery, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Durban Art Gallery.
Additionally, The Online Gallery is essentially a ‘gallery’ on
the world wide web, as an example see - The State of the Art (www.
stateoftheart.co.za). Strictly online galleries are not common practice in
South Africa – most physical gallery spaces have an online presence but
which supports the main physical exhibition space. Some artists have
a gallery on their own websites or blogs where the gallery can serve a
primarily function as the artist’s portfolio – this can be a point of sale
also. If you choose to have your work for viewing online, ensure that you
license your work appropriately.
How to approach galleries?
According to Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA), galleries prefer to
source their own artists to showcase, however, you can approach galleries
to show them your work, but first familiarize yourself with their submission
policy. It is beneficial to seek those which complement your style of work.
If their submissions policy allows for it, call them and set an appointment to
present your work.
When meeting a potential exhibitor, take your portfolio, artist’s
statement, biography, and CV. Read about what these are, how to make
them, and see examples here: www.scribd.com/doc/56411856/TheArtists-Handbook-01#page=110
Further reading:
for more information on
licencing and to select
which licence works best
for you, visit
www.creativecommons.org/
Also see page 102 for more
on copyright law.
For a
step-by-step guide
to preparing a professional
presentation go to www.
wikihow.com/ÇPrepare-aProfessional-Presentation
See steps to making a
portfolio and find links to
free downloadable graphic
programmes to use to edit
and layout images at
www.artright.co.za/
handbook/building-career/
self-promotion-guide/
portfolio/
47
VISUAL ARTS
The business relationship between
gallery and artist
When a gallery signs an artist, this essentially means that the gallery has
exclusive right to market, promote and sell an artist’s work for a contractually
binding period of time. After the contract signing, it is then the gallery’s
responsibility to promote, market and handle queries, distribution and
administrative logistics pertaining to the artist’s work during the exhibition, as
well as the staging of the exhibition. In turn, a gallery can request between
40 - 60% commission of works sold.
RESIDENCIES
Artist-in-residence programmes and other residency opportunities allow
visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their
art practice. These programmes offer conditions that are conducive to creativity
and they provide for working facilities, for both individual artists and groups.
Residencies differ in terms of what they offer the artist as well as the
residency tenure. For example one residency programme may offer you studio
space, living allowance, stipend and accommodation whilst another may only
offer studio space. Some offer no stipend or payment at all, but might offer
administrative support, and some require that an exhibit of the work you
produced while in residence is staged.
For Ng’ok, residencies are a ‘holding period’ in that it’s a time when she
can be focused and produce, and not have to also seek work aside from her
creative production to provide sustenance.
The Alliance of Artist communities’s website has helpful texts at these links:
• Choosing the right residency for you
www.artistcommunities.org/about-residencies/choosing-the-right- residency-for-you
• Preparing for a residency
www.artistcommunities.org/about-residencies/preparing-for-a-residency
• Fees, stipends, and funding for residencies
www.artistcommunities.org/about-residencies/funding-a-residency
Residency programmes in South Africa are offered by either the independent
organisations or tertiary institutions that offer tutelage in visual arts. Here are
some of the residency programmes on offer in South Africa:
• The Bag Factory: www.bagfactoryart.org.za
• Nirox Foundation: www.niroxarts.com/Residency/overview_introduction.aspx
• Greatmore Art Studios: www.greatmoreart.org
48
VISUAL ARTS
• Africa Centre: Artist in Residency Programme: www.africacentre.net
• Caversham Centre for Writers and Artists: www.cavershamcentre.org
• Keleketla!Library: www.keleketla.org/2011/03/21/of-books-and-residencies/
More extensive residencies listings are offered on the following sites:
• Worldwide network of artists’ residencies: http://resartis.org/en/
• Trans Artists: Your artists in residence guide: http://www.transartists.org/ artist-in-residence
• Thami Mnyele Foundation: www.thami-mnyele.nl/
• VANSA: www.vansa.co.za/opportunities/residencies
• Trans Artist: www.transartist.org/find-your-residency
• Creative Africa Network: www.creativeafricanetwork.com
COMPETITIONS
Entering competitions opens many possibilites for fostering your career.
Spier Contemporary 2007 winner Kemang wa Lehulere says about his win:
“It has helped by supporting my practice financially, but also, and more
importantly, the recognition and publicity that came with the awards has been
tremendous. It has also encouraged the production of experimental works
that do not have to be bound by market demands.”
See page 77 for a list of
visual art competitions.
There are several well recognised and prestigious visual arts competitions in
South Africa. Qualifying as a finalists or winning comes with monetary reward
and great publicity and promotion. The South African National Association
for the Visual Arts (SANAVA) website is a great source for current information
on visual art competitions. For more details, visit www.sanava.co.za/
competitions.html.
DO IT YOURSELF
Alternatively, you can take a do-it-yourself approach, by showcasing your work
or staging your own exhibition at public venues such as restaurants, cafes
or even your own home; forming or joining an arts collective like Cape Town
based Gugulective: (www.gugulective.net); availing your work online – visit
WikiHow (www.wikihow.com/Sell-Fine-Art-Online) for a guide; diversify your
art like renowned artist Keith Haring who also printed his work on tshirts and
postcards for retail; share or exchange studio space to produce, learn from
your peers, share overhead costs, and sell your work from your studio space
like New Delhi based The People Tree (www.peopletreeonline.com).
See page 54 for list of Art
Material stores.
49
VISUAL ARTS
Fine artist Maurice Mbikayi approached Alliance Francaise to host an
exhibition of his work: “Because of my French-speaking background, my
approaching Alliance Française was natural. I’m a regular member of the
Alliance Française of Cape Town and had been selected for a group show
in the past, plus the Alliance Française support cultural initiatives and are
willing to collaborate. After being selected in Spier Contemporary 2010 for my
performance ‘voices’, I submitted a proposal for a solo show at the Alliançe
Cape Town and it was welcome. After the show in August 10th 2010, Dr.
Ludmila Ommundsen – the director of the Alliance Française Cape Town –
was particularly touched by my work and proposed that the exhibition tour to
the rest of the Southern African Alliance Française offices, which I agreed to.
During my tour, the show was well received and I got to know many Alliance
Français directors, other staff, as well as other fantastic people. I discovered
other areas of the country and neighbouring countries. It was a great
exchange experience. I’m so grateful for that.”
SELF PROMOTION
Earning a living from your talents means bringing your innovative ideas and
entrepreneurial skills together. Whichever direction you take as a visual
artist, a level of self-promotion is necessary in order to garner interest, sales
and maybe recognition. Artright’s Self Promotion Guide details ways in
which a visual artist can build a sustainable career – see www.artright.co.za/
handbook/building-career/self-promotion-guide/.
IN CONVERSATION WITH
MIMI CHERONO NG'OK
Q:
Assuming there is a point when with some degree of consciousness we launch ourselves into creative
production – when was that for you and what were your aims or motivations for entering this creative path? Are
they the same now as they were then?
MN: I think it was when I was twelve years old. I didn’t have any aims and motivations at that point. All I knew
was that I really liked art classes and drawing and making things with my hands. In my mind being an artist was
about making things. I feel the same way today, primarily I am an artist because I’m interested in making things,
in some form of creativity, and while at this point I work in a fine art context, I would still like to engage with other
art disciplines.
Q: What were (maybe still are) some of the challenges you faced as a photographer earlier on?
50
VISUAL ARTS
MN:
I think money was an issue for me. You
need money to buy materials – film, photographic
paper etc. and to print work, produce frames.
So as much as you can do a lot with very little,
and be very creative coming up with solutions
to financial issues, it does help to have money –
lots of it. A personal challenge I had was I didn’t
have a support system. Most of my friends didn’t
understand the visual arts industry and my family
was out of the country, which meant I had to
figure out most things on my own.
Q: You graduated from the University of Cape
Town (UCT) with a Fine Arts degree. What are
your reflections on studying Fine arts in South
© Mimi Cherono Ng’ok
Africa - on the experience, the benefits of
going through the formal education process? In
hindsight, would you have made other decisions about studying? Where or with whom else do you consider your
‘visual arts education’ to have come from?
MN:
My biggest critique regarding studying in South Africa is its obsession with the Western art process/art
world. When I was at UCT we spent considerable amounts of time on American artists, the YBAs (young British
artists) and local artists (South Africans) but did nothing on artists from the rest of the continent. It seemed like
there was a complete disconnect. It seems the interest is in Western aesthetics and what that involves and there
is a lack of engagement about other forms of production from other places. We also did the bare minimum on
Japanese artists; I remember watching 'Ghost in the Shell' and other Manga [films] in art class or Spike Jonze and
Chris Cunningham videos but we never did anything on Malian photographers like Malick Sidibe, Seydou Keïta or
Senegalese cinema. There’s so much content we could have covered.
I don’t regret studying, but I think now I’m going through my own re-education, recognizing other aesthetics that
may not mirror Western artistic practice. The benefits of being in university is that it’s a site of exploration and
experimentation, which is something I wish I had understood while studying and had taken advantage of, I was
too busy trying to figure too many things out. My advice to 1st year fine art students is to treat the classroom as a
site of learning, of experiment, to try as much as possible.
Q:
What creative ‘work’ has been valuable to you? Perhaps there was something which paid very well, or an
opportunity to work with a specific person, or a nice/ugly learning curve?
MN: A nice learning curve was when I assisted a visiting artist who was in residence at the Goodman gallery. It
wasn’t anything specific about the work I helped him with but rather the conversations we had about art practice.
I felt his input was really significant because he had worked outside of South Africa and had a completely different
experience of the art world. It also helped me put a lot of things into perspective around my own work and ways to
move forward.
51
VISUAL ARTS
Q: I often hear from various arts practitioners that the way to improve one’s ability is to practice. Do you agree?
Would you share your own experiences or practices of how you improved your own creative ability generally, or
capability within the sphere of the visual arts?
MN:
For me, my photography practice involves more than taking pictures. Practice means visiting exhibitions and
seeing other artist’s work, reading as much as possible to improve my photography language and practice, and being
able to engage with other art forms to improve my own practice. I think it’s important to see other forms of production
and learn from them; watching Nigerian movies, Francophone cinema, that’s a form of practice.
* Interview with Mimi Cherono Ng'ok conducted by Rucera Seethal, November 2011.
CONTRIBUTORS
KEMANG WA LEHULERE
Born in Cape Town, Kemang Wa Lehulere is a multi-media artist who currently lives and works in Johannesburg.
In 2006 he co-founded the art collective Gugulective, an artist-led initiative based in Cape Town. Wa Lehulere
has participated both collectively and in his personal capacity in exhibitions and interventions both locally
and abroad. He is also a member of the Dead Revolutionaries Club, and a founding member of the Center for
Historical Reenactments based in Johannesburg. His creative writing has been published in Amkenah, Alexandria
(2008) and Remembering Future Africa, New York (2009). Wa Lehulere is the recipient of the inaugural Spier
Contemporary 07 Award and more recently MTN New Contemporaries 2010 Award.
MIMI CHERONO NG’OK
Born in 1983, Mimi Cherono Ng’ok lives and works in Nairobi and Cape Town, she is a Kenyan artist and
photographer. A recipient of the Edward Ruiz Mentorship for emerging photographers, in 2008 she produced
a solo exhibition on African immigrants living in South Africa, which previewed at the height of xenophobic
violence in cities across South Africa. Consequently her work was exhibited at the Market Photo Workshop in
Johannesburg, South Africa and BCI Formenta in Maputo, Mozambique. Currently, as result of a Changamoto Arts
grant, she is working on documenting Nairobi through a series of exhibitions and exchanges within the city.
MAURICE HERMÈS MBIKAYI
Maurice explores various aspects of visual art and public performance, as a way of engaging the public and interrogating
socio-political boundaries. Born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1974, Maurice Hermès Mbikayi
attended the Academies des Beaux Arts and graduated with a diploma in Graphic Design and visual communication in
2000. He moved to South Africa mid-2004. As one of the Spier Contemporary 2010 biennale’s selected artists, he was
also selected to participate in the 2010 Hollard Exchange Program facilitated by the Spier Arts Academy in Cape Town.
Since arriving in South Africa, Maurice has participated in various group exhibitions at the AVA Gallery; The Centre for
African Studies Gallery at the University of Cape Town; The Alliance Française Cape Town; The National Museum of
Swaziland; CCF, Maputo; Mozambique; The S.A. Iziko Slave Lodge; and the Harare International Festival of the Arts
2008. Maurice has co-facilitated group processes and workshops using art for therapeutic purposes.
52
VISUAL ARTS
RESOURCES
ORGANISATIONS
The Africa South Art Initiative
www.asai.co.za
Business Arts South Africa (BASA)
www.basa.co.za
Ifa Lethu Foundation
www.ifalethu.org.za
Performing Arts Worker’s Equity
Phone: 011 403 6234
E-mail: pawe@icon.co.za
The South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA)
www.sanava.co.za
SA Society of Cinematographers
Phone: 011 788 0802
E-mail: sasc@mweb.co.za
Visual Arts Network of South Africa
(VANSA)
www.vansa.co.za
Assemblage: Career Options
Battenfield, J 2009, The artist’s
guide: Making a living doing what
you love, Da Capo Press.
Bhandari, H D & Melber, J 2009,
ART/WORK: Everything you need to
know (and do) as you pursue your art
career, Free Press.
Blanckenberg, L 2011, ‘Selling your
work and creating a network of
customers’ Assemblage.
http://www.assemblage.co.za/
index.php?option=com_content&vie
w=article&id=148:buyers&catid=49:
network&Itemid=64
Bresler, J & Lerner, R E 2010, All
about rights for visual artists,
Practicing Law Institute.
Cartoon Smart
www.cartoonsmart.com/
Cook, S & Beryl, G 2010, Rethinking
curating: Art after new media,
Massachusetts: MIT
FURTHER INFO
(Books, audiovisual
resources and links to
other resource lists):
David Krut Video Library
www.youtube.com/user/
davidkrutprojects1#p/u
African Arts Institute and the Arterial Network Publications:
• Arts and culture information
directory
ISBN # 978-0-9869896-8-1
• Arts advocacy & networking toolkit
ISBN # 978-0-9869896-3-6
• Arts fundraising toolkit
ISBN# 978-0-9869896-4-3
• Project Management Toolkit for
Arts and Culture
ISBN# 978-09869900-2-1
www.africanartsinstitute.org.za
www.arterialnetwork.org
Gadd, A Making your art work: a
guide to making a living from art in
South Africa, South Africa: Create
Yourself Publications & Blueweaver.
Durkin, K F , Bryant C. D (ed.) &
Peck, D (ed.) 2009, ‘Images of
Death in Popular Culture’ Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience, Sage, California pp.811-813
Horowitz, N 2011, Art of the Deal:
Contemporary art in a global financial
market, Princeton University Press.
iTunes University
www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
Marincola, P (ed.) 2006, What
makes a great exhibition?, Philadelphia Centre for Arts and Heritage.
Multi-media List
http://video.pbs.org/subject/957383343
Ross, L ‘The Importance of going to
exhibition openings’ Assemblage.
http://www.assemblage.co.za/
index.php?option=com_content&vie
w=article&id=80:impexhopen&catid
=49:network&Itemid=64
Thompson, D 2008, The $12 million
stuffed shark: The curious economics of contemporary art, Palgrave
Macmillan.
SPECIALIST SERVICE
PROVIDERS
VANSA Art Map
www.vansa.co.za/art-map/westerncape/specialist-service-providers
www.vansa.co.za/art-map/gauteng/
specialist-service-providers
Groys, B 2008, Art power, Massachusetts: MIT.
53
VISUAL ARTS
ART MATERIALS
CAPE TOWN
Art Book Centre CC
Phone: 011 883 5304
Digital Brothers
www.digitalbrothers.co.za
Art Shops Online
www.artshopsonline.com
Ashley & Radmore (Pty) Ltd
16/20 Blumberg St, Industria West
Phone: 011 474 9068
Fixation Photographic
www.fixation.co.za
Fabulous Art
www.fabulousart.co.za
Janine’s Online Art Shop
www.onlineartshop.co.za
The Deckle Edge
www.deckleedge.co.za
Art Source
www.artsource-ct.co.za
Mercurius South Africa
Phone: 021 715 8357
Stockmar South Africa
Phone: 021 715 8357
The Framed Feather
Phone: 021 949 8419
www.theframedfeather.co.za
the write shoppe
Phone: 021 785 7614
www.thewriteshoppe.co.za
Red Balloon Craft Junction
www.redballoon.co.za
Johannesburg
Krylon Spraypaints
Phone: 011 444 1333
Herbert Evans Art Shop
Fourways Crossing, Sunset Boulevard
Phone: 011 465 8989
Mall of Rosebank
Phone: 011 447 3262
Greenstone Shopping Centre
Phone: 011 452 0806
54
Parker Craft
159 Greenvale Road, Meadowbrook,
Phone: 011 455 6810
Showbiz
Beyers Naude Drive, Cresta
Shopping Centre, Cresta
PHOTOGRAPHY
EQUIPMENT
CAPE TOWN
Orms Pro Photo Warehouse
Roeland Street,
Phone: 021 465 3573,
www.ormsdirect.co.za
Photographic Gear
Unit A6 Howe Studios, Howe Street
Phone: 021 447 6276
www.photographicgear.co.za
Pinnacle Fotographic
Shop 8, Viveka House, Parklands
Main Road, Parklands
Phone: 0861 114 516
www.pinnaclesales.co.za
Lustre Optical Laboratories (Pty) Ltd
4 Loop Street
Phone: 021 419 9540
Tone Photo C C
Sovereign Quay , Cnr Somerset &
Liddle streets
Phone: 021 462 2113
Danau
Phone: 021 686 3307
Fuji Image Centre
Phone: 021 914 1316
www.fujionline.co.za
JOHANNESBURG
Beyond It
Phone: 011 447 4893
Cameraland
Shop 4, The Colloseum, Commissioner Street
D and P Services: The Professional
Choice
1st Fl Fine Art Centre, 105 Pritchard St
Eco-pine
Union Square, 80 Plein Street
G and L Agencies
98 Langwa Street
Phone: 011 792 1097
Koping B & Zabludowsky RG
Tempo Shopping Centre
Med-Mac Services
Phone: 011 432 3545
Mikroplan Interiors and Shopfitters
18 Webber St., 1st Floor Barrow
House Selby
VISUAL ARTS
GALLERIES
CAPE TOWN
Cape Gallery
60 Church Street
www.capegallery.co.za
Hanel Gallery
84 Shortmarket Street
www.hanelgallery.com
34 Fine Art
160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock
www.34fineart.com
Carmel Art Original
www.carmelart.co.za
Irma Stern Museum
Cecil Road, Rosebank
www.irmastern.co.za
38 Special Gallery
38 Buitekant Street, Gardens
3RD Gallery
95 Upper Waterkant Street
A Word of Art
Woodstock Industrial Centre,
Albert Road, Woodstock
www.a-word-of-art.co.za
Alfred Mall Gallery
Shop 1, Alfred Mall Shopping
Centre, V&A Waterfront
www.fineartportfolio.co.za
Alliance Française
155 Loop Street - CBD
www.alliance.org.za
ART.B
Library Centre, Carel van Aswegen
Street, Bellville
www.artb.co.za
Association for Visual Arts
35 Church Street |CBD
www.ava.co.za
Barnard Gallery
55 Main Street, Newlands
www.barnyardgallery.com
Blank Projects
113-115 Sir Lowry Road,
Woodstock
www.blankprojects.com
Bronze Age Foundry
King George Way, Simonstown
www.bronzeageart.com
Cape Quarter Square
27 Somerset Road, Green Point
Casa Labia
192 Main Road, Muizenberg
www.casalabia.co.za
Chelsea Art Gallery
51 Waterloo Rd, Chelsea-Wynberg
David Krut Projects Cape Town
31 Newlands Avenue, Newlands
www.davidkrutprojectscapetown.com
Deon Viljoen Fine Art
1 Palmboom Road,Newlands
Ebony
67 Loop Street, Shop 4,
Franschoek Square, 32 Huguenot
Street, Franschoek
www.ebonydesign.co.za
Erdmann Contemporary and the
Photographers Gallery
63 Shortmarket Street
www.erdmancontemporary.co.za
Joao Ferreira Fine Art
70 Loop Street, CBD
Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery
In-Fin-Art Building,
Upper Buitengracht Street
www.johansborman.co.za
Michaelis Collection
Old Town House, Greenmarket
Square, www.iziko.or.za
Michaelis Galleries
Hiddingh Campus,
31-37 Orange Street,
www.michaelis.uct.co.za
Michael Stevenson Gallery
Buchanan Building,
160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock
www.stevenson.info
Museum Photographic Art Gallery
Upper Eastside, 31 Brickfield Road,
Salt River,
Everard Read Gallery
3 Portswood Road,
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront
www.everard-read-capetown.co.za
Porcupine Ceramics Gallery
Shop 103, Ground Level,
Clock Tower Shopping Centre,
V&A Waterfront
www.porcupine.co.za
G2 Art
61 Shortmarket Street
www.g2art.co.za
Rose Korber Art Consultancy
48 Sedgemoor Road,Camps Bay
www.rosekorberart.com
Greatmore Studios
47-49 Greatmore Street, Woodstock
www.greatmoreart.org
Salon 91
91 Kloof Street, Gardens
www.salon0art.co.za
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VISUAL ARTS
Sanlam Art Gallery
2 Strand Road, Bellville
www.sanlam.co.za
The South African Art Collection
Shop 9, Lower Ground Level,
Clock Tower Shopping Centre,
V&A Waterfront
www.fineartportfolio.co.za
The South African National Gallery
Government Avenue, Company
Gardens
www.iziko.org/za/museums/southafrican-gallery/
The South African Print Gallery
109 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock
www.printgallery.co.za
The Table Bay Gallery
Shop 6246, Upper Level,
Victoria Wharf Mall, V&A Waterfront
These Four Walls
168 Lower Main Road, Observatory
www.thesefourwalls.co.za
Urban Contemporary Art Gallery
46 Lower Main Road, Observatory
ABSA Gallery
Absa Towers North,
161 Main Street
African Feelings Gallery
154 Linden Street, Sandown
AFRONOVA
155 Smit Street, Braamfontein
www.afronova.com
Alice Art Gallery
217 Dryf Avenue, Ruimsig,
Roodepoort
www.alicart.co.za
Alliance Française
17 Lower Park Drive, Parkview
Anton Smit Sculpture Park
www.alliance.org
Art Africa
62 Tyrone Ave, Parkview
Art Afrique
Shop no U45, Legacy Mall, corner
Maude & 5th Streets, Sandton
www.artafrique.co.za
ARTONESIXTY Gallery
Corner 7th Street and Jan Smuts
Avenue, Rosebank
www.artonesixty.co.za
Artspace
Gallery: 1 Chester Court|142 Jan
Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Rosebank
Warehouse: 3 Hetty Avenue,
Fariland, Parkwood, Rosebank
www.artspace-jhb.co.za
BAG Factory, aka Fordsburg Artists’
Studios
10 Minnaar Street, Fordsburg
www.bagfactoryart.co.za
Batanai Artworks
52 6th Avenue, Parkhurst
Bensusan Museum of Photography
121 Bree Street, Newtown Cultural
Precinct, Newtown
www.joburg.org.za/culture/museums-galleries/bensusan-museums
Chapangu Garden Gallery
304 Adolf Street, Sandton
www.chapangusculpturepark.com
Cherie de Villiers Fine Art Gallery
The Mall (lower level), Rosebank
www.gallery.co.za
Whatiftheworld Gallery
1 Argyle Street (Corner Argyle and
Albert Road), Woodstock
www.whatiftheworld.com
Art on Paper
44 Stanley Avenue, Braamfontein
www.artonpaper.co.za
William Fehr Collection
Corner of Darling and Buitenkant
Streets, Cape Town
Artist Proof Studio
The Bus Factory,
1 President Street, Newtown
www.artistproof.co.za
Circa on Jellicoe
2 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank
CO-OP, 68 Juta Street,
Braamfontein, Johannesburg
www.circaonjellicoe.co.za
Artists Under the Sun
Zoo Lake, cnr Westwold Way and
Jan Smuts Ave, Parktown
www.artistsunderthesun.co.za
David Brown Fine Art
Nelson Mandela Square,
Sandton City, Sandton
www.davidbrownfineart.co.za
Arts on Main
264 Fox Street
David Krut Publishing
140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
www.davidkrutpublishing.com
Worldart Cape Town
54 Church Street, Cape Town
www.worldart.co.za
Youngblackman
69 Roeland Street, Cape Town
www.youngblackman69.com
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JOHANNESBURG
VISUAL ARTS
Everard Read Gallery
6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank
www.everard-read.co.za
Firenze Gallery
DF Malan Extension, Muldersdrift
Gallery 181
36 Orleans Road,
Kya Sands, Randburg
www.mukandeni.com
Gallery MOMO
52 7th Avenue, Parktown North
www.gallerymomo.com
Gallery on the Side
Pineslopes Shopping Centre,
Witkoppen Road, Fourways, Sandton
Gallery on the Square
Nelson Mandela Square, corner
Maude and Fifth streets, Sandton
Gallery Seippel
Arts on Main, 40 Berea Street, corner
245 Main Street, www.seippel.ev/
johannesburg/gallery.php
Gordart Gallery
78, 3rd Avenue, Melville
Goodman Gallery
163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
www.goodmangallery.com
Graham’s Fine Art Gallery
Unit 46, Broadacres Lifestyle Centre,
corner Cedar and Valley Roads
Broadacres, Fourways
www.grahamsgallery.co.za
Henry Taylor Gallery
Shop No G 7.2, Cedar Square, corner
Cedar and Witkoppen Roads, Fourways, www.henrytaylorgallery.co.za
Hyde Park Gallery
Shop 2, Middle Mall, Hyde Park
Shopping Centre Hyde Park,
Sandton, www.fineartportfolio.co.za
In ToTo Gallery
6 Birdhaven Centre, 66 St. Andrew
Street, Birdhaven
www.intotogallery.co.za
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Klein and King George Streets,
Joubert Park
Kim Sacks Gallery
153 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
www.kimsacksgallery.blogspot
Market Photography Workshop
Market Cultural Precinct,
139 Bree Street, Newtown
www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za
Museum Africa
Mary Fitzgerald Square,
121 Bree Street, Newtown
www.joburg.org.za
Ngwenya Art Gallery
Sunridge Farm, Corner Beyers Naude
& Diepsloot R114, Mulderdrift
www.ngwenyaartgallery.co.za
Obert Contemporary
14 the High Street, Melrose Arch
www.obertcontemporary.com
Objekt
32 7th Avenue, Parktown North
Rooke Gallery
Ground floor, The Newtown, Newtown
www.rookegallery.com
Seedpod Studio
Broadacres Garden Centre, Cedar Rd,
Fourways, www.seedpodstudio.com
Spaza Art Gallery
19 Wilhelmina Street, Troyeville
Standard Bank Gallery
Corner Simmonds and Fredericks
streets
Stevenson Johannesburg
62 Juta Street, Braamfontein
Thompson Gallery,78 3rd Avenue,
Melville
www.stevenson.info
Totem Gallery
Sandton City Shopping Centre,
Shop U 17a, Upper Level, Sandton
www.totemgallery.co.za
UJ Arts Centre
Cnr Kingsway and University Road,
Auckland Park
www.uj.ac.za
Unity Gallery
The Bus Factory, 3 President Str,
Newtown, www.unitydesign.co.za
Watercolour Society of South Africa
(WSSA)
Manor Gallery, Norscot Manor
Centre, Penguin Drive, Fourways
www.wsa.org.za
Roodepoort Museum Gallery
Civic Centre, 100 Christiaan de Wet
Road, Florida Park, Roodepoort
www.joburg.org.za/culture/museums-galleries/roodepoort-museum
57
literature
There are few writers who get
to just write – everyone’s got a
sideline, a lifeline ...
as a writer I can create
other possibilities and
other universes.
Phillippa Yaa De Villiers
Poet, Writer and Actress
LITERATURE
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literature
OVERVIEW
The first fictional works to emerge from South Africa were produced by immigrants who often felt alienated from the
South African landscape - at the same time as they were fascinated by its harsh beauty. These colonial writers were
unsettled and intrigued by what they perceived as exotic elements of indigenous cultures.
Two important and recognised South African voices include Olive Schreiner (1800s ) and Douglas Blackburn
(1900s). It was not until the 20th century that recognised literature by black South Africans emerged. Viewed as
the founding father of black literature in South Africa, Sol Plaatje was also the first secretary general of the then
South African Native National Congress (now the African National Congress) at its foundation in 1912. Another
important figure of this time was Thomas Mofolo.
The 1940s saw the beginnings of a flowering of literature by black South Africans, as a generation of missioneducated black South Africans came of age. Among them were HIE Dhlomo, Peter Abrahams and Herman Charles
Bosman.
Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) is possibly the most famous novel to have come out of South Africa. When it was
first published, it was an international bestseller, launching its author, Alan Paton, to worldwide fame. The novel
put South Africa on the map of international politics by making visible to Western audiences the effects of racial
prejudice and the oppression of black people.
The 1950s in literary history is sometimes reffered to as 'The Drum Dacade'. It heralded a new generation of black
writers talking about the conditions of their lives in their own voices, voices with a distinctive stamp and style. The
popular Drum magazine in the 1950s was their forum, and encouraged their emergence. It depicted a vibrant urban
black culture for the first time, a world of jazz, shebeens (illegal drinking dens) and flamboyant tsotsis (gangsters).
Notable writers of this period included Todd Matshikiza, Henry Nxumalo, Nat Nakasa, Can Themba, Lewis Nkosi and
Mphahlele. E’skia Mphahlele’s autobiographical Down Second Avenue (1959) is a landmark in the development
of South African fiction. At the same time as the Drum generation was creating the first urban black voice, one
of South Africa’s most important white writers was beginning her long, distinguished career. Nadine Gordimer
published her first short stories in the early 1950s; in 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Influencial comtemporary post-apartheid writers include Zakes Mda, Ivan Vladislavic, Lesego Rampolokeng, K Sello
Duiker, and Mark Behr. Look out for Zoe Wicomb’s David’s Story and Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit (both 2001); Mike
Nicol’s The Ibis Tapestry (1998), Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) and Kgafela wa Magogodi’s Thy
Condom Come (2000).
Among Afrikaans writers now translated into English, look out for Etienne van Heerden’s Ancestral Voices (1989) and
Marlene Van Niekerk’s Triomf (1994).
For more including writing of love across the colour line, writing in opposition, Soweto poets, and the emergency
years, go to: www.southafrica.info/about/arts/literature
59
LITERATURE HANDBOOK
Writing is a talent, and an inclination. To pursue it as a career can be a long road, though the career directions are
vast. Later in the chapter we expand on career paths available.
Studying can be a helpful way of improving your ability, for some fields such as
journalism or editing, studying (either through a tertiary institution, or through
mentorship, or experience as an intern or volunteer) is more necessary. Creative
writing is an area with more scope for ‘breaking the rules’, and though studying is
to some extent ‘less necessary’, practice and the sharpening of one’s talents is an
important process.
See page 74 for places to
study, and for list of bursaries
available see page 76.
Writer and publisher Colleen Higgs advises: "The thing aspiring writers should know though is that they should work with
an editor or a mentor, so that their work is of a high standard. They can access such people through the Professional
Editor’s Group or word of mouth. They should try to get things published in literary magazines on and off line, e.g.
Litnet, Carapace, New Coin, New Contrast, Chimurenga, Botsotso, Words Etc. Green Dragon and Deep South. And they
should keep an eye on Book SA (bookslive.co.za) and Litnet (www.litnet.co.za). Go to book launches and read a lot."
Writing styles
Fiction writing
Fiction writing is any kind of writing that is not factual. The elements of
fiction are: character, plot, setting, theme, and style. Of these five elements,
character is the 'who', plot is the 'what', setting is the 'where' and 'when', and
style is the 'how' of a story.
Non-fiction writing
Traditional nonfiction (journalism and scholarly) is mostly information, whilst
creative nonfiction presents or treats information using the tools of the fiction
writer while maintaining allegiance to fact.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and
evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning. Poetry
may be written independently, as discrete poems; or, may occur in conjunction
with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns, lyrics, or prose poetry.
Some more specific categorizations of writing approaches and formats include:
journalism, creative writing, copywriting, script/screenwriting, editing and proofreading.
Journalism
Journalism is a form of writing that tells people about things that really
happened, but that they might not have known about already. The journalistic
style of writing is often used in the mediums of journals and magazines and
60
literature
newspapers, travel writing and broadcast journalism, as story features or
investigative stories and/or opinion pieces such as editorials, columns or
reviews. These basic principles govern journalism writing:
• Get the facts. All the facts you can.
• Tell your readers where you got every bit of information you put in your story.
• Be honest about what you do not know.
• Keep the writing clear, simple and concise.
Creative writing
A creative writer requires the skills of dialogue, action and description and
should know how to balance these elements whilst introducing mood, tension
and scene changes in their writing. Specialists in creative writing can apply
their talent to crafting a short story and/or novel, literary short and flash
fiction, poetry, and children's stories. Types of creative writing include:
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in
narrative format and often deals with a single episode and single character.
It begins as close to a conclusion as possible and grabs the reader in the very
first moments. The writer seeks to conserve characters and scenes, by e.g.
focusing on just one conflict and driving towards a sudden and unexpected
revelation. Word count is approx. 2 000 to 10 000 words.
Novel
A novel is a book of fictional prose narrative that usually has a plot that
unfolds by actions, dialogue and thoughts of varied characters. Word count is
approx. 40 000 + words.
Novella
A novella (also called a short novel) is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually
longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. A novella often concentrates
on character study. Word count is approx. 17 500 to 40 000 words.
Novelette
A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a
novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a
novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella.
Copywriting
Copywriting is the art and science of writing words to promote a product, a
business, a person or an idea; and carefully selecting, editing, weaving and
constructing words in a way that will persuade the reader into taking a
61
literature
specific and measurable action. The skill of copywriting is usually associated
with diverse industries seeking to market and promote their product for sales
purposes.
Scriptwriting/Screenwriting
A script/screenwriter is someone who writes scripts for mass media such as
speeches, plays, films, broadcast visual and audio dramas, and video games.
Thus, the writer has the ability to creatively transform a message or story into
both a written and visual context that will be performed by live actors and, at
the same time, adhere to a traditional three-act structure and strict formatting
rules insofar as master scenes, action and dialogue. This profession is often
practiced on a freelance basis.
Editing & Proof-reading
A proof-reader reads a copy or proof of writing for purposes of error detection
and correction. Editing work demands for the persistent consideration of who,
what, when, where, why, and how when reading content. A piece of writing is
often edited and thereafter proof-read by a party outside of the author.
Publishing
Publishing is more than printing your book. It is the making of a product,
which needs to be refined and well-packaged, and marketed and sold.
If you have a manuscript, there are several stages towards getting it into a
book form, and some areas to consider before you decide to print your book.
If you are self-publishing, the onus is on you to take your manuscript through
all these processes and cover the costs for it, if you have a publisher, these
processes are then the publisher's concerns.
Seeking a publisher
For her book, The Everyday Wife, writer Phillippa Yaa De Villiers turned
to a publisher: “When it came to The Everyday Wife I wanted to have
a rest, I was turned down by three publishers before I asked Colleen
Higgs, I should have gone to her first. She’s always been supportive.
Being published by a formal publisher like Modjaji makes it possible to
not always have to blow your own trumpet, [the publisher] does it, but
[Colleen, founder of Modjaji] has to do it for all her authors. Also, I have to
buy books from her, which cuts into the profits.”
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literature
How to submit your manuscript
Congratulations for getting this far in your writing! However, before submitting
your manuscript to a potential publisher, independent publishing house
Modjaji Books suggests the following: “Proof-read your manuscript, correcting
spelling mistakes and bad grammar, and ensure it is neatly laid out. Ask
someone you know (a good friend or family member may not be ideal, but
they will most likely be willing) to read your book and give you feedback. Tell
them you are looking for a critique, not a pat on the back, and need feedback
on overall impression and whether there are any inconsistencies or areas of
confusion, etc. Once you are happy that you’ve done the best you can, send
your submission. All submissions should include a covering email and a
synopsis of your book in the body of the email.”
Each publishing house has their own requirements for accepting submissions
of manuscripts. Check the publisher’s website to read their own specifications
before submitting your manuscript.
Cover Email/Letter *
The covering email/letter should include the following:
• Your name and full contact details.
• Your background, e.g. details of any writing you’ve had published, writing courses you’ve participated in, any personal details that are relevant to the subject matter of your book and / or work experience that is relevant to your book.
• A short description of the written work.
• A synopsis.
How to write a synopsis *
This applies mainly to novels, but can be adapted for submission of
collections of short stories or non-fiction. A synopsis is a short summary of
between 500 and 1000 words, covering the plot, characters and action. It
should include the following:
• Genre
• Word count
• Story title
• The main characters (capitalise character names on first mention), and their motivators
• The main story or plot lines, but avoid discussing sub-plots (in novels)
• The ending
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Synopses should be written in the third person, present tense, regardless of
how the book is written. Try to match the tone of the book when writing your
synopsis, i.e. if your book is funny, aim for a comedic note in your synopsis.
Leave out dialogue, unless this is an important part of your book and you feel
it will add appeal in the synopsis.
* Excerpts courtesy of Modjadi books www.modjadibooks.co.za
Self-publishing
Having a book of which you are the author can be a valuable marketing tool –
you can have it in your bag, and give it out to influential people. But readying
and printing a book is a costly process. You can get similar exposure by being
published in literary journals. You can also consider publishing your writing
online – there are various online platforms, some which come with small
costs, some at no cost. The risk with publishing online is that your work can
be copied very easily and you can’t control if the person copying your work will
credit you or not. What you can do to deter this is to only publish a part of the
text, and for further reading, the reader must contact you.
A manuscript needs an editor. An editor will help you make the best out of
your writing, which means you will have a better product. After editing, you
will need to design a cover and lay out the text to be print-ready. Having an
attractive and enticing book to the reader is important. A badly designed
book or non-appealing cover can give off the wrong impression of what you or
your work is about. It is best to find a designer to do this, someone who has
been recommended or whose work you have seen and like. After designing,
the book will go for printing.
Printing can be done digitally or on Litho press. Litho printing will give you a
cheaper price per unit, whereas digital printing will be much more costly per
unit. However, digital printers normally cannot handle more than 500 units,
where as it is most cost effective to print 1000 or more units with Litho printers.
You should assess why you are self-publishing. If it is a promotion tool,
perhaps printing fewer copies is a better option, but you will need to assess
total costs, because you will not recover most of the expense in monetary
form. Printing a greater number of copies on litho, at a cheaper price per unit,
can mean that you could make a profit off sales of your book – but you will
need to do a lot of marketing, and hands on work to sell your book.
De Villiers initially published her own book, after which she published with
a publisher. Of this experience she says: “For people with a high profile it
makes sense to self-publish but there is still a stigma about it – a hangover
from the developed world. You have to be vetted by the publishing world to
be considered any good. It seems unnecessarily strict when you look at what
writers and publishers are trying to do in this tiny market. I’m not so
64
See page 82 for using
the internet as a sales and
marketing tool.
See page 102 for
copywriting and licensing
options.
literature
good at business, I can’t give you figures but I can tell you about relationships
– how to keep them and how to find new ones, that can grow possibilities if
people respond to your work.”
De Villiers' decision to self-publish was not a specific one, but rather an
opportunity which came her way:
“I didn’t choose self-publishing as much as it chose me. When I was sitting
with the manuscript of Taller Than Buildings, Colleen Higgs, who I met on
Crossing Borders encouraged me to apply for the Centre for the Book’s
Community Publishing Grant – a great project for this country. The writer
gets to take full responsibility for the book – production and distribution – for
R15,000 – it might be more now. I thought of my book as currency, a passport
– a way to be seen. I really pushed the book hard the first year (2007) and
had a nervous breakdown at the end of the year. As a poet it was always easy
to take books wherever I went and sell them at readings. I couldn’t afford a
distributor and I did everything myself. I still think it wasn’t too bad, I had three
print runs and sold about 1 350 books. (Well, I gave quite a few away too.)
“But if you’re thinking about making money from publishing – it doesn’t add
up to much. I got much more value from doing it and being invited to read at
festivals here and abroad.”
ISN & BARCODES
Any publishing in print and/or online has to be allocated an international
standard number and code by the International Standard Number (ISN)
agency, in order to identify any South African published document worldwide.
ISNs for books or serials are obtainable from the ISN Agency. This service is
rendered free of charge by the ISN Agency to the publishers of South Africa.
Your publisher details will also be included in the publication, Directory of
South African Publishers (DSAP) as well as enabling the publisher to identify
and list their publications worldwide in other directories and on the internet.
Contact the ISN Agency to apply for a single, or block of, ISBN:
The National Library of South Africa
Ms. Magret Kibido
P.O. Box 397
Pretoria 0001
Phone: (012) 401 9718
E-mail: Magret.Kibido@nlsa.ac.za
ISN.agency@nlsa.ac.za
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Freelancing
This form of self-employment as a writer requires self-discipline, selfmotivation and passion. Often writers resort to freelance writing to either
supplement an income and/or use the avenue to explore other or new career
options and/or build their resume to advance their career.
A freelance writer should register with a viable and researched freelance
organisation, jobsites, directories and emailing prospects in order to market
themselves and thus receive potentially fruitful contracts.
Other ways in which to promote yourself include:
• Have a portfolio e.g. website or blog that showcases your work, gives people
information about you and how you work and that gives your contact details.
• Prepare a good resume and link to it from your website or blog, or email it to relevant people, post it on job sites .
• Your website or blog should be dynamic (regular content updates for repeat visitors) and interesting (keep visitors on your site for longer).
• List yourself in business directories both online and offline (depending on your budget of course, but many directories are free to list with).
• Meet with people in the real world: fellow writers, friends, colleagues and become visible.
• Attend writing workshops, conferences, literary festivals or gatherings of people in your industry or field of interest so you can mingle with your peers
and talk about what you do and how you can help others.
What to charge as a freelance writer?
Some people charge per word or on an hourly rate depending on the type of
work. In this case, try to make a realistic prediction of how long it will take
to perform a specific writing job and then quote on this. Also consider your
flexibility, the type of client, what competitors are charging, your business cost
requirements as well as your qualifications and experience.
66
See page 82 for using
the internet as a sales and
marketing tool.
See
page 79 for lists of
literary festivals
in South Africa.
literature
IN CONVERSATION WITH Phillippa YAA de Villiers
For as long as I can remember I was always writing
poems and stories but without the confidence to
really embark on a creative career in writing. I knew
always that I’d have to sacrifice for my dream.
Putting myself through theatre school in Paris
gave me a lot of confidence because it showed me
I could pull it off, I had the determination and the
will - it took a lot of discipline to stay there for two
years. I came back to South Africa in 1991 and got
into acting – had some great gigs.
WORK
During a production of ‘For Colored Girls...’ –
Fatima Dike told me I was the hardest working
actress on stage – not the most talented, but the
hardest worker. Kind of a tough compliment but
Photo by Pervaiz Khan
it is the truth in many ways. I have never allowed
other peoples’ assessment of my talent stop me.
So, I’ve got little talent – what counts more is that I make it work for me.
I got into improvisation and street theatre and went back to university and studied scriptwriting and got into
writing for TV. TV demanded discipline and I got used to churning out lots of different types of scripts – drama,
soap and edutainment. In the 90s I couldn’t really work out what I wanted to say, because it was all caught up
with a hell of a complicated life story that was riddled with untruths. The more I wrote it, the more complicated
it became. Then I got the best job of my life: working for the Theodora Foundation as a hospital clown from
2004 - 2007. It put me in weekly contact with people whose reality was literally so painful, it made me so aware
of what I could give to distract them momentarily, it was immensely humbling and made me see what I do as a
service rather than a career. That has stayed with me through all the other things I’ve done.
My adoptive mother said if you’re going to spend a minimum of 8 hours a day doing a job, try to make it one that
you enjoy. So acting taught me about being resilient, about rejection. Nobody likes to be told that their idea
sucks and that’s the biggest challenge working in TV. Even if in two weeks' time your idea comes out of your
producer’s mouth as if he thought of it himself, you can’t let that get to you.
Opportunities to work on projects like 'Soul City' with Greg Latter as head writer and 'Tsha Tsha' with Charlie
Sapadin gave me tons of structure and real practice at making stories. I haven’t learnt much from 'the literature
industry’. There are only few writers who get to ‘just write’, everyone’s got a sideline, a lifeline. Literature seems
to me to be a cross between an ivory tower and a spaza shop – world class, but with no real money.
I haven’t written a TV script without a contract. I wrote a short film once, still dealing with the secrecy of my
adoption and family secrets in general.
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I want to re-publish Taller than Buildings as an e-book and I’m really interested in sound at the moment. I’m
collaborating with a sound artist on some poems and my next book will be an audio cd as well as text.
TEACHERS
I think all artists go to find their teachers as they discover their material and the means of working with it. Being
in a circle of strong women poets: Lebo Mashile, Napo Masheane, Myesha Jenkins and Makhosazana Xaba and
more recently Natalia Molebatsi and Raphael d’Abdon has influenced me a lot, because they’ve told me what
they like in my work. I think it’s always helpful to have a circle of peers who you can share your work with before
you expose it to the public. John Lindley, my first official mentor on Crossing Borders, was brilliant because he
honoured my voice. He realized that I had a big story to deal with and never tried to make me sound like anyone
else, rather letting me dictate my process – I wanted to explore classical forms like sonnets and villanelles and
he helped me to do that in a very organic way.
Keorapetse Kgositsile, the National Poet Laureate, has been more of a mentor in other ways. When I was
approached by Isabel Ferrin-Aguirre who organised the Berlin Poesiefestival, to join her and Xiao Kaiyu to make an
anthology of African poetry to be translated into Mandarin, I asked Kgositsile if he’d be interested in the project.
He refused when he heard the time lines – then we managed to get the sponsor to give us more time. In this way
he helped all of us to deliver a much better, more considered work in No Serenity Here. I guess I’ll always want to
have someone who’s older and more experienced in my life, along with my teachers who are younger and braver
than I’ll ever be – like Napo, Lebo, Thabiso Mohare and Matthew Mokoena.
REPUTATION
It’s funny you talk about reputation – I think this is the first year where I’ve had people come up to me and offer
me work based on my reputation. I always feel like I’m starting from scratch with nothing.
What I love about freelancing is that I’ve had tons of time with my son: afternoons, homework, going to Ellis Park
pool for a swim, kicking a ball around. I’ve chosen to invest in that relationship – I’ve really enjoyed being part
of this boy’s childhood. The tough thing is that sometimes you’re broke, your car can’t get fixed and the kid
doesn’t have all the cool toys. Then we have to discuss and see what’s possible, and we have learnt together to be
grateful for what we have. Napo and Lebo have often chided me for working for peanuts but sometimes if that’s
all they’re offering, you have to take it. Mostly now I try to make sure it’s at least worth more – I’m meeting a new
audience, making more contacts.
* Constructed from an interview with Phillippa Yaa De Villiers conducted by Rucera Seethal, November 2011.
68
literature
CONTRIBUTORS
Phillippa Yaa de Villiers
Studying journalism at Rhodes with the hidden desire to be an actor, Phillippa Yaa De Villiers took herself to the
Jacques Lecoq School in Paris. She worked as an actor until she got Bell’s Palsy, which limited her because it
affected her looks. She continued to participate in street theatre, was a member of Gauteng Theatresports and
went back to university to study scriptwriting. She worked in scriptwriting for TV for eight years and in 2005, won
a mentorship with English poet John Lindley through the British Council/Lancaster University’s distance learning
scheme 'Crossing Borders.' She wrote 'Where the Children Live' (a two-hander play) which was the runner up
best writer award and won the audience award at the National Festival of Play Readings, before publishing her
first collection of poetry Taller than buildings (2006), which was followed by 'Original Skin' (2008), a one-woman
play based on her life story. She contributed to the anthology of South African birth stories, Just Keep Breathing,
published by Jacana with her story 'A thousand births' (2008) and won the Writing Beyond the Fringe/de Buren
competition with her short story 'The Day That Jesus Dropped the Tall' (2009). In the same year her short story
'Keeping Everything The Same' was shortlisted for the Pen Studinski Prize. In 2010 she released her second
collection, 'The Everyday Wife' and co-edited an anthology of African poetry translated into Mandarin, 'No Serenity
Here.' She was editor of the South African contribution to Megaphone, a journal initiated and edited by Juliana Spahr
and Stephanie Young out of Mills College. Her work is in anthologies and journals from Poui to Edinburgh Review,
and the online journals The Canopic Jar, Shine and Incwadi. In 2011 she contributed to 'Letter to South Africa: Poets
Call the State to Order.'
COLLEEN HIGGS
Colleen Higgs is a writer and guerilla publisher with the hope of one day being able to say “I am an established
independent publisher”.
Higgs has had poems, stories, reviews, journalism and critical articles published in anthologies, magazines, journals
and online over the past 18 years. She's also written and published three of her own books, and published three
books by other writers.
She was born in Kimberley, and has lived in Welkom, Wepener, Maseru, East London and Johannesburg. She spent
a year as an exchange student in Iowa, USA.
Higgs has worked as a teacher, a teacher-trainer, a material's writer and an academic development lecturer. For
over seven years she worked at the Centre for the Book, where amongst many other things she managed the awardwinning Community Publishing Project, which included writing A Rough Guide to Small-Scale and Self-Publishing,
and championing small publishing in South Africa. With Maire Fisher she co-edited The South African Small
Publishers Catalogue. It was launched in time for the first Cape Town Book Fair in 2006.
In 2007 she started the small, independent press, Modjaji Books, which, for now, publishes the work of Southern
African women. Her first collection of poems, Halfborn Woman was independently published in 2004 under the
imprint Hands-On Books.
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RESOURCES
ORGANISATIONS:
Business Arts South Africa (BASA)
www.basa.co.za
Centre for the Book
Phone: 021 423 2669
www.nlsa.ac.za
Congress of South African Writers
Association (COSAW)
Phone: 011 838 2893
Dramatic, Artistic and Literary
Rights Organisation (DALRO)
www.dalro.co.za
Pan South African Language Board
(PanSALB)
www.pansalb.org.za
Publishers’ Association of South
Africa (PASA)
www.publishsa.co.za/
South African Book Development
Council
www.sabookcouncil.co.za
South African Writers Network
(SAWN)
www.sawn.co.za
South African Scriptwriters’
Association (SASWA)
Phone: 011 838 8848 The Writers’ Guild of South Africa
www.writersguildsa.org/
FURTHER INFO
(Books, audiovisual
resources and links to
other resource lists:
Book Southern Africa
www.bookslive.co.za
70
Chimurenga
www.chimurenga.co.za
Herbert, D 2001, ‘Literary Places,
Tourism and the Heritage Experience’ Annals of Tourism Research,
Elsevier Science Ltd: Great Britain.
www.hyut.net/admin/files/literary%20
places,%20tourism%20and%20
the%20heritage%20experience.pdf
Independent Publishers Network
Programme
www.scribd.com/doc/18146977/
Independent-Publishers-NetworkProgramme
Keuris, M 1996, The play: A manual ,
Pretoria: JL van Schaik Publishers.
Marshal, N 2011, ‘When poetry is
louder than a bomb’ How youth drive
change’, The UNESCO courier,
vol. 64, 3.
unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0019/001937/193773e.pdf
Jefferson, A , Forgacs, D & Robey, D
(eds) 1982, Modern literary theory:
A comparative introduction, London:
Batsford.
South African Book Development
Council 2007, Factors influencing
the cost of books in South Africa,
South Africa.
www.saccd.org.za/objects/sabdc_
cost.pdf
Stellenbosch Literary Project
www.slipnet.co.za/
Timbila Poetry Project
www.timbilapoetry.blogspot.com/
The Writer’s Bureau
www.writersbureau.com/video.htm
UNESCO: Training of Media Professionals
portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=24220&URL_DO=DO_
TOPIC&URL_SECTION=-465.html
Wainwright, J 2002, Poetry: The
basics - J Wainwright, Routledge
Weate J 2011, ‘Situation is critical’
The Chimurenga Chronicle: Chronic
Books, Cape Town: Chimurenga.
www.chimurenganewsroom.org.
za/?p=2979
New Contrast
www.newcontrast.net
Webster, R 2009, Studying literary
theory: An introduction, London:
Edward Arnold.
Professional Editors’ Group
www.editors.org.za/publications.asp
WordsEtc.
www.wordsetc.co.za
Seldon, R 2005, A reader’s guide
to contemporary literary theory,
Brighton: The Harvester Press.
South African Book Development
Council, National Survey into the
Reading & Book Reading Behaviour
of Adult South Africans.
www.saccd.org.za/objects/sabdc_
reading.pdf
literature
BOOKSHOPS
NATIONWIDE STORES
CNA
www.cna.co.za
Exclusive Books
www.exclus1ves.co.za/stores/
Juta Bookshop
www.juta.co.za
Kalk Bay Books
Majestic Village,
124 Main Road, Kalk Bay
Phone: 021 788 2266
www.kalkbaybooks.co.za
Ulrich Naumann Bookshop
15-19 Berg Street, City Centre
Phone: 021 423 7832
Van Schaik
www.vanschaik.com
Wordsworth Books
Shop 7103 , Victoria Wharf,
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Phone: 021 425 6880
www.wordsworth.co.za
House of Isis
www.houseofisis.co.za
Johannesburg
CAPE TOWN
Bargain Books
3 Picbel Parkade, Corner of Waterkant
Street and Strand Street
Phone: 021 421 7391
www.bargainbooks.co.za
The Bay Bookshop
B6 Mainstream Centre, Hout Bay
Phone: 021 790 9009
Cape Quarter, Green Point,
Phone: 021 421 1301
www.baybookshop.co.za
BIBLIOTEQ
30 Hudson Street, De Waterkant
Phone: 021 425 6582
www.bibliotecqbooks.com
The Book Lounge
71 Roeland Street , Gardens
Phone: 021 462 2425
www.booklounge.co.za
Clarke’s Bookshop
211 Long Street, City Centre
Phone: 021 423 5739
www.clarkesbooks.co.za
Bookshelf
207 Earls Court, 2nd Ave, Killarney
Phone: 011 646 8389
www.bookshelf.co.za
Tall Stories - Fine Books For
Discerning People
Shop 12, Irene Village Mall,
Phone: 012 662 2829
www.tallstoriesbookshop.com
Outer Limits
Phone: 011 482 3771
www.outerlimits.co.za
Booktalk
Hyde Square, Jan Smuts Avenue,
Hyde Park, Sandton
Phone 011 325 2266
www.booktalk.co.za
Lohmiller K & P
Cresta Shopping Centre,
Beyers Naude Drive, Cresta
Phone: 011 478 1106
Xarra Books
Constitution Court, Visitor Centre,
55 Hospital Street, Braamfontein
Phone: 011 403 0947
www.xarrabooks.com
Magz
Phone: 011 447 4219
Pickwicks Books
37 4th Avenue, Parkhurst
Phone: 011 788 6907
Facts & Fiction
144 Hendrik Verwoerd Drive,
Phone: 011 789 5555
Titles
5 Grafton Ave, Craighall Park,
Phone: 011 880 9634
Real Books
137 Smit Street, Braamfontein
Phone: 011 403 3700
Bookdealers of Greenside
127 Greenway Road,
Village Green Centre, Greenside
Phone: 011 486 3995
Listeners Library
Hyde Square, Jan Smuts Avenue,
Phone: 011 325 2266
www.listenerslibrary.com
Picsie Books
Parkwood Mansions,
144 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood
Phone: 011 880 3843
71
GEneral
GENERAL
information
& resources
2.1 LISTS
FURTHER EDUCATION
MUSIC
Artist in Residency Programme
www.africacentre.net/artist-inresidency-programme
The Wits School of Arts,
Witwatersrand University
www.wits.ac.za/wsoa/dramaticart/8811/dramatic_art.html
University of South Africa (UNISA)
www.unisa.ac.za
University of Stellenbosch
www.academic.sun.ac.za/music/
programmes.html
The South African School of Film,
Television & Dramatic Art
www.filmdramaschool.co.za
The Sober&Lonely Institute
for Contemporary Art
www.soberandlonely.org
University of South Africa (UNISA)
www.unisa.ac.za
The Wits School of Arts,
Witwatersrand University
www.wits.ac.za
Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking
www.bigfish.org.za
Wits University: BA Honours in
Drama and Film degree.
www.wits.ac.za
Pretoria Technikon: Film &
Television School
www.tut.ac.za
UWC Centre for Performing Arts
www.uwc.ac.za
VISUAL ARTS
Cape Peninsula University of
Technology
www.cput.ac.za
Artist in Residency Programme
www.africacentre.net/artist-inresidency-programme
SA College of Music at the University
of Cape Town
www.uct.ac.za/depts/sacm/
Assemblage
www.assemblage.co.za
FILM
AFDA
www.afda.co.za/
Boston Media House
www.boston.co.za
City Varsity Film and Television and
Multimedia School
www.cityvarsity.co.za
Newtown Film & Television School
Phone: 011 838 7462
E-mail: nftsdir@sn.apc.org
Cape Town School of Photography
www.ctsp.co.za
Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
www.bagfactoryart.org.za/
Photographic Society of South
Africa: Clubs in Gauteng
www.pssa.co.za
Photographic Society of South Africa
www.pssa.co.za
Ruth Prowse School of Art
www.ruthprowse.co.za
Spier Arts Academy
Phone: 021 465 9029
www.spierartsacademy.co.za
University of South Africa (UNISA)
www.unisa.ac.za
Michaelis School of Fine Arts,
University of Cape Town
www.michaelis.uct.ac.za/
UJ Arts Centre at the University of
Johannesburg
www.uj.ac.za/EN/artsacademy
PERFORMING ARTS
Artist in Residency Programme
www.africacentre.net/artist-inresidency-programme
Artscape Theatre Centre
www.artscape.co.za
Campus of Performing Arts (COPA)
www.copasa.co.za
Gordon Institute for Performing and
Creative Arts (GIPCA), University of
Cape Town
www.gipca.uct.ac.za
UWC Centre for Performing Arts
www.uwc.ac.za
Sibikwa Community Arts Centre
www.sibikwa.co.za/training.html
South African National Circus School
www.sacircus.com
73
GEneral
Stagedoor Showbusiness Academy
www.stagedoor.co.za
Dance Umbrella
www.danceumbrella.co.za
Technical Production Services
Association
www.tpsa.co.za
Dance Directory
www.dancedirectory.co.za
The South African School of Film,
Television & Dramatic Art
www.filmdramaschool.co.za
Tshwane University of Technology
www.tut.ac.za
The Waterfront Theatre School
www.waterfronttheatreschool.co.za
The Wits School of Arts,
Witwatersrand University
www.wits.ac.za
University of Johannesburg Arts
Academy
www.uj.ac.za
UWC Centre for Performing Arts
www.uwc.ac.za
Zip-Zap Circus School
www.zip-zap.co.za/
DANCE
Artist in Residency Programme
www.africacentre.net/artist-inresidency-programme
Cape Dance Company (CAPA)
www.capedancecompany.co.za/
Cape Town City Ballet
www.capetowncityballet.org.za/
Cape Town Vaudeville Supper Club
www.vaudeville.co.za
Dance Academy of SA
www.dasa.co.za
74
Dance Forum: The Dance Space
Phone: 011 492 0709/ 2033
Dance-X–treme
www.dancextreme.co.za/
Flamenco Fusion Spanish Dance
Academy
www.flamencofusion.co.za
University of Johannesburg Arts
Academy
www.uj.ac.za
LITERATURE
AAA School of Advertising
www.aaaschool.co.za
AFDA
www.afda.co.za
Boston Media House
www.boston.co.za
Gordon Institute for Performing and
Creative Arts (GIPCA), University of
Cape Town
www.gipca.uct.ac.za
Cape Peninsula University of
Technology
www.cput.ac.za
Jazzart
www.jazzart.co.za
Publishing Association of
South Africa
www.publishsa.co.za
Katz School of Dance
www.ksdance.co.za
La Rosa Spanish Dance Theatre
www.larosa.co.za
Random House Struik
www.getsmarter.co.za/creative-writing
Rhodes University
www.ru.ac.za/jms/
Moving into Dance Mophatong
(MIDM)
www.midance.co.za
SA Writers’ College
www.sawriterscollege.co.za
Remix Dance Company
www.remixdanceproject.co.za
University of Cape Town’s Centre for
Creative Writing
www.creativewriting.uct.ac.za
Stagedoor Showbusiness Academy
www.stagedoor.co.za
The Dance Factory
www.newtown.co.za
Tshwane University of Technology
www.tut.ac.za
University of Cape Town School
of Dance
www.dance.uct.ac.za
University of Johannesburg:
Department of Communication
www.uj.ac.za
University of South Africa (UNISA)
www.unisa.ac.za/default.htmlp
general
FUNDING &
BURSARIES
MUSIC
Art Moves Africa
www.artmovesafrica.org
Business Arts South Africa (BASA)
www.basa.co.za
National Lottery Distribution Trust
www.nlb.org.za
Samro Endowment Trust for the Arts
http://www.samro.org.za
ACT Dalro Performing Arts
Scholarships
www.act.org.za/programmes_scholarships.htm
National Arts Council (NAC)
www.nac.org.za/funding
Visual Arts Network of South Africa
www.vansa.co.za/opportunities/
education
FILM
Art Moves Africa
www.artmovesafrica.org
Arts and Culture Trust (ACT)
www.act.org.za/programmes_festival_bla.htm
Business Arts South Africa (BASA)
www.basa.co.za
National Arts Council
www.nac.org.za/funding/multidiscipline
National Film and Video
Foundation (NFVF)
nfvf.co.za/funding
National Lottery Distribution
Trust Fund (NLDTF)
www.nlb.org.za
Open Society Foundation for
South Africa
www.osf.org.za/Applications/
default.asp
SA Film
www.safilm.org.za/organisations/
finance.html
Business Arts South Africa (BASA)
www.basa.co.za
National Arts Council (NAC)
www.nac.org.za
National Lottery Distribution Trust
Fund (NLDTF)
www.nlb.org.za
Performing Arts Network of South
Africa (PANSA)
http://www.pansa.co.za/opportunities
VISUAL ARTS
Art Moves Africa
www.artmovesafrica.org
The Soros Documentary Fund
www.soros.org
Arts and Culture Trust (ACT)
www.act.org.za
The Callsheet
www.thecallsheet.co.za/opportunities
Artreach Fund
www.ava.co.za
Visual Arts Network of South Africa
www.vansa.co.za/opportunities/
Business Arts South Africa (BASA)
www.basa.co.za
PERForMING ARTS
ACT Dalro Performing Arts
Scholarships
www.act.org.za/programmes_scholarships.htm
Art Moves Africa
www.artmovesafrica.org
Arts and Culture Trust (ACT)
www.act.org.za
Artscape Technical Training
Academy
www.artscape.co.za/technicaltraining
Ifa Lethu Foundation
www.ifalethu.org.za
MDDA
www.mdda.org.za
National Arts Council (NAC)
www.nac.org.za
National Lottery Distribution Trust
Fund (NLDTF)
www.nlb.org.za
Photographic Society of South Africa
www.pssahonours.com/index.html
Rafiki Arts Trust
www.trianglenetwork.org/partners/
rafiki
75
GEneral
Spier Arts Academy
Phone: 021 465 9029
www.spierartsacademy.co.za
VANSA
www.vansa.co.za/opportunities/
funding
LITERATURE
Art Moves Africa
www.artmovesafrica.org
MAPPP-SETA
www.mappp-seta.co.a
MDDA
www.mdda.org.za
National Arts Council (NAC)
www.nac.org.za
National Lottery Distribution Trust
Fund (NLDTF)
www.nlb.org.za
Open Society Foundation for
South Africa
www.osf.org.za
76
French Institute
www.ifas.org.za
Goethe Insitut
www.goethe.de/johannesburg
Prince Clause Foundation
www.princeclausfund.org
Pro Helvetia
www.prohelvetia.org.za/
South African Heritage Resources
Agency
Phone: (021) 462 4502
Triangle Art Trust
www.trianglearts.org
* Bursary opportunities are often
available by request from and dictated by an institution. For information on other bursary opportunities,
make contact with the respective
institution/s you are interested in
attending!
AWARDS &
COMPETITIONS
MUSIC
The Impact Awards
www.act.org.za/programmes_
awards.htm
International Songwriting Competition
www.songwritingcompetition.com
MDDA/Sanlam Local Media Awards
www.mdda.org.za
PanSALB Multilingualism Awards
Email: communication@pansalb.
org.za
Red Bull Can Make Music
Competition
www.redbullcanmakemusic.com/
home.php
South African Championships of
Performing Art
www.beyond2000.co.za
SUPPORTIVE
ORGANISATIONS:
ALL DIScIPLINES
Standard Bank Young Artists
Award
www.standardbankgallery.co.za
Alliance Francaise
www.alliance.org.za
FILM
Department of Arts and Culture
www.dac.gov.za/funding.html
The Callsheet
www.thecallsheet.co.za/opportunities
Distell Foundation
www.distell.co.za
Vuka! PSA Awards
vuka.mnet.co.za
British Council
www.britishcouncil.org/southafrica
National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF)
nfvf.co.za/funding
general
PanSALB Multilingualism Awards
Email: communication@pansalb.
org.za
South African Film & Television
Awards (SAFTA)
www.saftaregistration.co.za/
PERFORMing ARTS
The Impact Awards
www.act.org.za
Naledi Theatre Awards
www.naleditheatreawards.org.za
South African Championships of
Performing Art
www.beyond2000.co.za
Spier Contemporary Competition
www.spiercontemporary.co.za
SANCTA Festival Poster Competition
www.sancta.org.za/art.htm
Sasol New Signatures
www.sasolsignatures.co.za
Spier Contemporary Competition
www.spiercontemporary.co.za
Standard Bank Young Artists
Award
www.standardbankgallery.co.za
Thami Mnyele Fine Arts
Competition
Contact the Visual Arts Curator:
Phone: 011 391 4006/7
or 011 391 6273
Visible Spectrum Awards
www.sasc.co.za
Penguin Prize for African Writing
www.penguinbooks.co.za/africanwinners/
Science Fiction/Fantasy South
Africa Short Story Competition
www.sfsa.org.za
South African Writers’ Circle: Short
Story Competition
sawriters.org.za/live/competitions/
annual-competition.html
Sunday Times Literary Awards
www.timeslive.co.za
FESTIVALS
Vuka! PSA Awards
vuka.mnet.co.za
MUSIC
VISUAL ARTS
Vuleka Art Competition
www.artb.co.za
ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts
Festival
www.kknk.co.za
ABSA l’Atelier Competition
www.absalatelier.co.za
LITERATURE
African Hip Hop Indaba
www.africanhiphopindaba.co.za
The Citizen Book Prize
E-mail: bookprize@citizen.co.za
www.citizen.co.za
Afrikaanse Music Festival
www.whatson.co.za
Ekhureleni National Fine Arts
Awards
Contact the Visual Arts Curator:
Phone: 011 391 1006/7
or 011 921 – 2064
Fujifilm Photographic Awards
competitions.fujifilm.co.za/
The Impact Awards
www.act.org.za
PanSALB Multilingualism Awards
Email: communication@pansalb.org.za
PPC Cement Young Concrete
Sculpture Award
www.ppc.co.za/pages/cement_ycsMew.cfm
Maskew Miller Longman Literature
Awards
www.mml.co.za/literature-awards
MDDA/Sanlam Local Media
Awards
www.mdda.org.za
PanSALB Multilingualism Awards
Email: communication@pansalb.
org.za
PEN/Studzinski Literary Award
www.sapen.co.za/
Arts Alive International Festival
www.artsalive.co.za
Cape Town Festival
www.capetownfestival.co.za
Cape Town International Jazz
Festival
www.capetownjazzfest.com
Di Konokono Arts and Culture
Festival
www.eisteddfod.co.za
77
GEneral
Diamonds & Dorings Music Festival
Phone: 053 8327298
Macufe Mangaung African Cultural
Festival
www.macufe.co.za
Moshito
www.moshito.co.za
National Arts Festival
www.nafest.co.za
Old Mutual National Choir Festival
www.oldmutual.co.za/about-us/
sponsorship/arts-and-lifestyle/
national-choir-festival.aspx
Obs Arts Festival
obsarts.org.za
Oppikoppi Music Festival
www.oppikoppi.co.za
FILM
Apollo Film Festival
Contact Petrus Martens
Phone: 079 397 3876
Durban International Film Festival
www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
Encounters
www.encounters.co.za
Film Contact
www.filmcontact.com/events
National Arts Festival
www.nafest.co.za
Obs Arts Festival
obsarts.org.za/
Screen Africa
www.screenafrica.com
Rocking the Daisies
www.rockingthedaisies.com
Splashy Fen
www.splashyfen.co.za
Standard Bank Joy of Jazz
www.joyofjazz.co.za
International Chamber Music
Festival
academic.sun.ac.za/chambermusicfestival/
The Pan African Space Station
www.panafricanspacestation.org.za/
Uplands Festival
www.uplands-festival.co.za/
Woodstock Festival
www.woodstock.co.za
78
PERFORMING ARTS
Infecting the City
www.africacentre.net/infecting-thecity
Macufe Mangaung African Cultural
Festival
www.macufe.co.za
National Arts Festival
www.nafest.co.za
Obs Arts Festival
obsarts.org.za
Out The Box International Festival of
Puppetry & Visual Performance
www.outtheboxfestival.com/aboutthe-festival/
Spier Contemporary
www.spiercontemporary.co.za
Spier Summer Arts Festival
www.spier.co.za
Suidoosterfees Arts Festival
www.suidoosterfees.co.za
Aardklop Arts Festival
www.aardklop.co.za
VISUAL ARTS
ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts
Festival
www.kknk.co.za
29 Eastcape International Salon of
Photography
www.pssa.co.za
Arts Alive International Festival
www.artsalive.co.za
Aardklop National Arts Festival
www.aardklop.co.za
Cape Town Festival
www.capetownfestival.co.za
ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts
Festival
www.kknk.co.za
Darling Voorkamerfest
www.voorkamerfest-darling.co.za
JOMBA! Contemporary Dance
Experience
www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
Arts Alive International Festival
www.artsalive.co.za
Di Konokono Arts and Culture Festival
www.eisteddfod.co.za
general
Infecting the City
www.africacentre.net/infecting-thecity
Knysna Nederburg Art Experience
knysna.tourism@pixie.co.za
Kuns Uniek
www.kunsuniek.co.za
Macufe Mangaung African
Cultural Festival
www.macufe.co.za
National Arts Festival, Grahamstown
www.nafest.co.za
Obs Arts Festival
obsarts.org.za/
Franschoek Literary Festival
www.flf.co.za/
National Arts Festival
www.nafest.co.za/wordfest
Obs Arts Festival
www.obsarts.org.za/
Open Book Festival
www.openbookfestival.co.za
Poetry Africa
www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
Time of the Writer
www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
Wordfees
www.woordfees.co.za
Sancta Festival
www.sancta.org.za/festivals.htm
Spier Contemporary
www.africacentre.net/spier-contemporary
RETAIL OUTLETS
Spier Summer Arts Festival
www.spier.co.za
ART MATERIALS
CAPE TOWN
Suidooster Arts Festival
www.suidoosterfees.co.za
Art Shops Online
www.artshopsonline.com
Uplands Festival
www.uplands-festival.co.za/
Fabulous Art
www.fabulousart.co.za
LITERATURE
Arts Alive International Festival
www.artsalive.co.za
Badalisha Poetry Festival
www.africacentre.net/badilishapoetry-x-change
Jozi Book Fair
www.jozibookfair.org.za/
Janine’s Online Art Shop
www.onlineartshop.co.za
The Deckle Edge
www.deckleedge.co.za
The Framed Feather
Phone: 021 949 8419
www.theframedfeather.co.za
the write shoppe
021 785 7614
www.thewriteshoppe.co.za
Red Balloon Craft Junction
www.redballoon.co.za
Johannesburg
Krylon Spraypaints
Phone: 011 444 1333
Herbert Evans Art Shop
Fourways Crossing, Sunset Boulevard
Phone: 011 465 8989
Mall of Rosebank
Phone: 011 447 3262
Greenstone Shopping Centre
Phone: 011 452 0806
Art Book Centre CC
Phone: 011 883 5304
Ashley & Radmore (Pty) Ltd
16/20 Blumberg St, Industria West
Phone: 011 474 9068
Parker Craft
159 Greenvale Road, Meadowbrook,
Phone: 011 455 6810
Showbiz
Beyers Naude Drive, Cresta
Shopping Centre, Cresta
Art Source
www.artsource-ct.co.za
Mercurius South Africa
Phone: 021 715 8357
Stockmar South Africa
Phone: 021 715 8357
79
GEneral
PHOTOGRAPHY
EQUIPMENT
CAPE TOWN
Orms Pro Photo Warehouse
Roeland Street,
Phone: 021 465 3573,
www.ormsdirect.co.za
Photographic Gear
Unit A6 Howe Studios, Howe Street
Phone: 021 447 6276
www.photographicgear.co.za
Pinnacle Fotographic
Shop 8, Viveka House, Parklands
Main Road, Parklands
Phone: 0861 114 516
www.pinnaclesales.co.za
Lustre Optical Laboratories (Pty) Ltd
4 Loop Street
Phone: 021 419 9540
Tone Photo C C
Sovereign Quay , Cnr Somerset &
Liddle streets
Phone: 021 462 2113
Danau
Phone: 021 686 3307
Digital Brothers
www.digitalbrothers.co.za
Fixation Photographic
www.fixation.co.za
Fuji Image Centre
Phone: 021 914 1316
www.fujionline.co.za
JOHANNESBURG
Beyond It
Phone: 011 447 4893
Cameraland
Shop 4, The Colloseum,
Commissioner Street
80
D and P Services:
The Professional Choice
1st Fl Fine Art Centre, 105 Pritchard St
Eco-pine
Union Square, 80 Plein Street
G and L Agencies
98 Langwa Street
Phone: 011 792 1097
Koping B & Zabludowsky RG
Tempo Shopping Centre
Med-Mac Services
Phone: 011 432 3545
The Bay Bookshop
B6 Mainstream Centre, Hout Bay
Phone: 021 790 9009
Cape Quarter, Green Point,
Phone: 021 421 1301
www.baybookshop.co.za
BIBLIOTEQ
30 Hudson Street, De Waterkant
Phone: 021 425 6582
www.bibliotecqbooks.com
The Book Lounge
71 Roeland Street , Gardens
Phone: 021 462 2425
www.booklounge.co.za
Mikroplan Interiors and Shopfitters
18 Webber St., 1st Floor Barrow
House Selby
Clarke’s Bookshop
211 Long Street, City Centre
Phone: 021 423 5739
www.clarkesbooks.co.za
BOOKSHOPS
NATIONWIDE STORES
Kalk Bay Books
Majestic Village,
124 Main Road, Kalk Bay
Phone: 021 788 2266
www.kalkbaybooks.co.za
CNA
www.cna.co.za
Exclusive Books
www.exclus1ves.co.za/stores/
Juta Bookshop
www.juta.co.za
Van Schaik
www.vanschaik.com
House of Isis
www.houseofisis.co.za
CAPE TOWN
Bargain Books
3 Picbel Parkade, Corner of Waterkant
Street and Strand Street
Phone: 021 421 7391
www.bargainbooks.co.za
Ulrich Naumann Bookshop
15-19 Berg Street, City Centre
Phone: 021 423 7832
Wordsworth Books
Shop 7103 , Victoria Wharf,
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Phone: 021 425 6880
www.wordsworth.co.za
Johannesburg
Bookshelf
207 Earls Court, 2nd Ave, Killarney
Phone: 011 646 8389
www.bookshelf.co.za
Tall Stories - Fine Books For
Discerning People
Shop 12, Irene Village Mall,
Phone: 012 662 2829
www.tallstoriesbookshop.com
general
Outer Limits
Phone: 011 482 3771
www.outerlimits.co.za
Booktalk
Hyde Square, Jan Smuts Avenue,
Hyde Park, Sandton
Phone 011 325 2266
www.booktalk.co.za
Listeners Library
Hyde Square, Jan Smuts Avenue,
Phone: 011 325 2266
www.listenerslibrary.com
Picsie Books
Parkwood Mansions, 144 Jan Smuts
Ave, Parkwood
Phone: 011 880 3843
Lohmiller K & P
Cresta Shopping Centre, Beyers
Naude Drive, Cresta
Phone: 011 478 1106
Xarra Books
Constitution Court, Visitor Centre,
55 Hospital Street, Braamfontein
Phone: 011 403 0947
www.xarrabooks.com
Magz
Phone: 011 447 4219
Pickwicks Books
37 4th Avenue, Parkhurst
Phone: 011 788 6907
Facts & Fiction
144 Hendrik Verwoerd Drive,
Phone: 011 789 5555
Titles
5 Grafton Ave, Craighall Park,
Phone: 011 880 9634
Real Books
137 Smit Street, Braamfontein
Phone: 011 403 3700
Bookdealers of Greenside
127 Greenway Road, Village Green
Centre, Greenside
Phone: 011 486 3995
CASTING
AGENCIES
Action Film Faces
www.actiondirect.co.za
Big Talk Entertainment
www.bigtalk.co.za
Central Casting
www.centralcastings.co.za
Good Hope Casting Agency
www.goodhopecasting.co.za
Kayos Casting Directors
www.kayos.co.za/
Limelite Casting
www.limelitecasting.com/home.html
Looks Casting Agency
www.looks.co.za/
Mother City Xtras
www.mcxsa.com
Noir Models
www.noirmodels.co.za
Original Cape Talent
www.originalcapetalent.co.za/
Shine Studios
www.shinegroup.com
Starlightz Casting
www.starlightzcasting.com
Star Media Casting
www.StarMediaCasting.co.za
81
2.2 COMMUNICATIONS
The Internet as a sales and marketing tool
Online Portfolio
1) You can either set up your own website from scratch if you are familiar with
HTML coding or have a web-designer and hosting company do it for you, though this
can be a costly solution.
2) Or use a template based system such as Wordpress or Joomla which are blogging
tools. Joomla is more versatile, but with a steeper learning curve required to make
your website.
Further reading:
The Guy from Erie gives some lessons on wordpress:
• Word press for beginners part 1 (How do I get started)
www.youtu.be/jJoodIiuy5I
• Word press for beginners part 2 (Writing and Publishing Your First Article) www.youtu.be/LfUfVu0OW4M
• Word press for beginners part 3 (Adding Photos to Your Posts)
www.youtu.be/UoYVRSuP-JE
• Word press for beginners part 4 (Adding Videos to Your Posts)
www.youtu.be/PZYi2wPZHRQ
Wikihow has an extensive list of tutorials on this.
Go to www.wikihow.com/Category:Wordpress
3) There are also many free public portfolio-hosting sites which can host your
portfolio. Here are some options, but do ask within your network to hear what other
artists are using and happy with.
Krop (www.krop.com/creativedatabase/) is aimed at professionals seeking
work. The free version offers a 10-image-limit free version, and it has a job
board (which unfortunatly doesn't carry job listings outside of the USA). It does
however have a built-in thumbnail cropping tool and includes a resumé builder.
Flickr (www.flickr.com/tour/#section=welcome) is a general image hosting and
video hosting website, web services suite, and online community. As an html site
that allows you to tag, categorise and keyword each photo, Flickr is good for Search
Engine Optimization (SEO). In fact, many photographers often post photos with the
very intention of grabbing the top image searchs anticipating that searchers will,
through this, be directed to the photographers personal website.
Carbonmade (www.carbonmade.com). Like Krop, is aimed at professionals
seeking work, but the free version offers a bigger 35 image limit.
Figdig (www.figdig.com) features high definition images and PDF profiles.
82
Definition:
Search engine optimization
(SEO) is the process of
improving the visibility
of a website or a web
page in search engines
via the “natural” or
unpaid (“organic” or
“algorithmic”) search
results. In general, the
earlier (or higher ranked
on the search results page),
and more frequently a site
appears in the search results
list, the more visitors it will
receive from the search
engine’s users.
general
Further reading:
• General links to many articles offering advice on creating a successful portfolio Creating a successful online portfolio
www.freelanceswitch.com/freelancing-essentials/creating-online-portfolio/
• “Websites for Artists: Creating your Online Profile” ArtBusiness.com
www.artbusiness.com/webworks.html
• Photography Specifically - read it at www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/portfolio-8.shtml
POSTING YOUR WORK ONLINE
You should licence your work appropriately, so those wanting to use images
downloaded from your website, are aware of what copyright exists, and what
they should know if they wish to download and reproduce or link.
SELLING YOUR WORK ONLINE
The advantage of setting up your own website or blog is that you can also add sales
functions to the website or blog. This can simply be by asking interested buyers to
contact you via email, or you can be a bit more tech savvy and use a secure payment
gateway for accepting payment by credit card. PayPal is one such solution which is
now available to South African merchants to sell from their website, however in South
Africa you need to be an FNB account holder to use PayPal merchant services.
There is a significant enough amount of internet fraud to make internet buyers
approach internet purchases with caution. This is something the seller needs
to consider. It becomes the buyers prerogative to trust the seller or not. You
can make it easier for them to decide to buy by clearly listing your terms and
conditions of trade, by including shipping and delivery details and stating what
recourse measures buyers have if they are not satisfied.
Communication
Mobile networks
In South Africa at present there are five mobile networks, Vodacom, MTN,
Cell C, Virgin Mobile and most recently 8ta. You need a sim card to use your
mobile phone, and getting one for any of these networks is easy and very
affordable. There are many mobile phone shops in most areas, and most leading
chain stores sell sim-packs, which contain a sim card. It is important to note that
at present, Virgin Mobile and 8ta airtime is not as easily available to purchase as
the other network's airtime is. At present all mobile network users are required
by a law called The Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (RICA), to
register their sim cards as soon they acquire them.
See page 103 for more
information on copyright.
Go to www.wiki.
creativecommons.org/Before_
Licensing for an introduction
to copyrighting, and more
information on the types of
copyrights available.
PayPal is an internationally
recognized payment gateway,
for a brief intro & how to setup Paypal visit www.paypal.
com/webapps/mpp/merchant
Further reading:
“How Can I Sell My Music
Online”
New Music Strategies.
www.newmusicstrategies.
com/2008/04/04/how-can-isell-my-music-online/>
Dubber, A 2007, New
Music Strategies: The 20
Things you must know
about music online.(www.
newmusicstrategies.com/
ebook/)
83
GEneral
To register your sim card for RICA you need to provide a bar-coded ID document or passport as well as proof
of residency.
Land lines
Telkom public phones are generally found and in most areas, and in working order throughout South Africa. These
phones take coins as payment method, but also prepaid cards, which are also regularly available for purchase at
most large and small stores.
Telkom also offers World Call Cards, these come in different packages, some useable outside of South Africa also.
A World Call Charge Card is issued to businesses, families and individuals. A requirement for this type of World
Call Card is that it must be linked to a land line to which Telkom can send bills for service. An advantage in using
this card is that it comes with a PIN number which prevents unauthorized usage.
The World Call Prepaid Calling Card is simple to use. One dials a toll-free access number followed by a voucher
number and follow instructions from voice prompts.
The Rechargeable Prepaid Calling Card enables the user to recharge without having to acquire physical or
electronic vouchers. To top up airtime one has to visit any Telkom Direct Shop or purchase transaction online by
registering on www.telkom.co.za. The recharge amount will be credited to the user’s card immediately. According
to Telkom, this is a ‘permanent’ calling card which has the features of a credit card and can be recharged
repeatedly.
If a physical phone directory is unavailable one can make use of the toll free number 1023 on landlines for
telephone number enquiries. One can also visit the online version on www.yellowpages.co.za.
Internet access
For communication by email, one can make use of the internet cafes in your area for a fee. One can also access
the internet for lower rates and make use of computers at the following centres in Cape Town:
Scalabrini Centre,
47 Commercial St, Cape Town CBD
Phone: 021 465 6433
www.scalabrini.org.za
Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF)
41 Salt River Road, Salt River
Phone: 021 448 1563
www.ogoniforum.org.za
Alliance for Refugees in South Africa (AFRISA)
Phone: 021 421 2348
www.afrisa-org.net
Artscape Resource Centre
Phone: 021 410 9952
www.artscape.co.za/resource-centre
84
general
English courses
The following organisations offer English courses for migrants and/refugees, or can assist in finding where these are offered:
Cape Town
Alliance for Refugees in South Africa
Floor Sahara / Thibault House, Hans
Stridjom Avenue, Thibault Square
Phone: 021 421 2348
www.afrisa-org.net/projects.htm
Agency for Refugee Education, Skills
Training & Advocacy (Aresta)
22 Springbok Street, Kewtown Athlone
Phone: 021 633 8762
www.aresta.org.za
Scalabrini Centre
47 Commercial Street
Phone: 021 465 6317
www.scalabrini.org.za
St Joseph’s Adult Education
programme
www.stjosephsaep.co.za
Johannesburg
Consortium for Refugees and
Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA)
5th Floor, Braamfontein Centre, 23
Jorissen Street, Braamfontein
Phone: 011 403 7559
www.cormsa.org.za/contact
Hotel Yeoville
editor@hotelyeoville.co.za
www.hotelyeoville.co.za/services/
community-directory
2.3) Business
Basic financial management
This chapter focuses on some basic approaches and documentation for the financial management of your business.
Rushaan Toefy, a registered Accounting Officer with a B Comm., (Acc) degree and seven years experience working with
start-up businesses contributed to this chapter.
If you can’t communicate to a client how much money he or she needs to pay you for a goods or service, and what the
terms of payment are, you run the risk of not being able to receive funds from that client, losing future business or even
appearing incompetent. If you can’t reflect the financial state of your artistic production, dissemination, promotion
and sales, you could find that a potential funder won’t take your application seriously and might question your ability
to manage the funds which you are requesting from them. If you are unable to keep record of your stock, theft by
employees could go unnoticed, and you could stand to lose money.
As an artist, you have a product to make, market and sell, stock to manage, and finances to keep track of. And so,
you are also an entrepreneur. It is imperative to the health and prosperity of your business to be able to see, know
intimately and keep track of all of these aspects of your business. You might not feel like you have the time to –
but you also do need to keep track of the financial side of your business in a professional manner such that you can
communicate to relevant people – that is, using basic accounting principles and financial documents. Accounting is
about keeping track of your money: how much money is coming in and how much is going out. Money coming in and
out is respectively known as income and expenditure.
Toefy says, before you dive into producing and selling, take the time to consider what your business goals are. Maybe
you wish to earn a certain amount of money in a specific period of time, or you want to sell a specific amount of stock?
Maybe you wish to be able to make the type of art you want to make without having to consider how sellable it is, but
also need to earn enough money to be self-sustaining?
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Whatever your goals are – they are valid. Knowing what your goals are will allow you to plan a path to get there,
otherwise you could be reacting to what is coming instead of creating opportunities for yourself. Keeping a record of
your personal and business affairs from which you can reflect on and assess, will enable you to measure where you
have been successful and where there is room for change so that you can continue towards your goals.
Keeping a record of your stock and finances:
Artright Business Tool is a downloadable excel document. Its purpose is to help you better understand your
financial position. It assists in comparing your income to your expenses, managing and planning your tax, as
well as keeping track of your stock. It is most suited for small businesses such as sole proprietorships or close
corporations, or for people who work for themselves. Artists, small galleries, art agents, independent contractors
and other self-employed individuals will find this tool useful. Download it here:
www.artright.co.za/artbusiness/money-management/simple-accounting/
Read through Artright's Terms & Conditions before use: www.artright.co.za/info/terms-conditions/
Generally –there are some principals to remember regarding your income, expenses and stock. You may not see the
point of following these guides immediately, but if you do, you put yourself in a position at a later stage to do a range
of things you might not be able to do without records of your business, such as applying for funding or a loan, selling
your business, hiring staff, assessing profitability, assessing the financial health or your business in a realistic way
and making informed decisions about what path to take or how to adjust your current path.
A business foundation:
Open a bank account, and have the financial movements of your business occur through your bank account. That is,
receive income and pay for expenses through your bank account. If your business is primarily cash based, you might
find bank charges to be high for cash deposits. Speak to your bank about the type of financial activity you will be
undertaking, and ask their advice on what is the best type of account to open.
Expenses:
In accounting, expense has a very specific meaning. It is an outflow of cash or other valuable assets from a person
or company to another person or company. Keep and file all paperwork relating to expenses. It might help you to
write down and record what expenses you have incurred, but it is also important to keep the actual slips, receipts and
vouchers, and file these chronologically. The expenses you need to record are all those relating to your business. This
could include the canvas you buy to paint on, the airtime used to call galleries, the lunch you buy for the person taking
care of your flea market stall – basically, costs which you have incurred towards making your business run.
Income:
Quotes:
If you are selling goods or a service you might be asked for from a prospective client, to supply a quote. If the prospective
client is happy with your quote and wants to work with you, they should accept your quote in writing. This can mean that
you ask them to sign the quote and return it to you, or that they email you to say that they accept your quote. Your quote
should have a unique number, and the client – when accepting – should specify that unique number, so that there is not
confusion as to which quote is being accepted. You need to file all quotes you have issued.
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Invoices:
In order to receive payment from a client, you will need to give them an invoice. If the client has accepted your quote, and is
now requesting an invoice, you should file the accepted quote with the invoice you have issued. The quotes which have not
been accepted, or have not materialized into invoices, will need to be filed separately as unrealized quotes.
Receiving income:
If you receive cash, you should provide documentation to the client confirming that you have received payment from them,
that is, you must give them a sales or cash receipt. If payments are on a term basis – meaning, if the client pays over a
period of time, say half up front, and the remaining half after you deliver the goods – you need to keep track of payments
received. You can do this by attaching cash receipts to the invoice.
Making or buying stock:
You need to keep track of how much money you spend to make or buy the products you are selling. This will also help you
to decide on a price to sell your stock for. These costs are expenses, and you need to file them too.
Stock movement and delivery notes:
Your stock has monetary value, and so you need to monitor you stock also. Keep a tight record of where your stock goes,
and for how much. Even stock which you give at a reduced cost or give at no cost – this all needs to be recorded. If you
store your stock, make sure you regularly check what amount of stock you have in storage, and if it matches with your
records. For example, if you made 100 postcards, and you gave 10 away, and sold 30, you should have 60 postcards left.
If you don’t, you need to check your stock control methods. Losing stock means losing money. You should issue delivery
notes whenever you deliver your work to a client. This will help you keep track of stock movement.
Opening a bank account
The procedure for opening a bank account in South Africa relates directly to the type of permit you have been granted.
Whilst on a tourist visa you are only able to open a bank account in South Africa that is classified as a non resident account.
Whilst these accounts can have all the features of a normal banking account they are restrictive in so much as they cannot
generally receive deposits in Rands. There are exceptions to the rule, such as if you own a property and let it out.
If you are in possession of a valid permit that confirms your temporary or permanent residency status then you are able to
open a bank account in South Africa which is known as a residents account. A resident’s account is in essence a ‘normal’
bank account with no special restrictions.
Your Close Corporation or Pty Ltd can obtain a business account. There would be no currency restrictions in terms of
Rand deposits into this account, as the company is viewed as a legal identity in its own right and would be incorporated
in South Africa.
When opening an account in South Africa for a Close Corporation you will be required to provide the following
documentation:
• Founding statement and certificate of Incorporation (Form CK1) and an Amended Founding Statement (CK2), if applicable
• One of the following documents reflecting the trade name and physical business address:
• An original company letterhead
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• Electricity or water bill
• A bank statement (from another financial institution)
• Lease or rental agreement
• Telkom account
• SARS tax return statement
In addition you will be asked to provide information in respect of your source of income and the type of activities that
can be expected on the account.
All members, authorised signatories and any other person who may act on behalf of the closed corporation must provide
the same information and documentation as stated above, as well as written confirmation that they are authorised to act
on behalf of the CC.
Major banking institutions in South Africa are First National Bank (FNB), Standard Bank, Nedbank, ABSA, and Capitec.
First National Bank (FNB)
First National Bank (FNB) requires applicants who want to open bank accounts to bring documentation proving identity.
Asylum seekers and refugees should bring their permits as well as proof of residence. The latter can take the form of a bill
including residential address, a letter from employer on a letterhead showing the applicant's address or an affidavit from a
police station stating one’s address. FNB is known to have some of the more competitive bank rates for savings accounts,
and a very easy Online Banking interface. Their Online Banking also offers other resources like basic account keeping.
General Banking Enquiries: 0860 11 22 44 / www.fnb.co.za
Standard Bank
Standard Bank does not accept applications to open bank accounts from migrants or asylum seeker permits and those
on refugee status. A migrant on a work permit may open a savings account only upon submission of a passport and a
letter from the employer stating how long the contract is and what the salary figure is. Proof of address on a Standard
Bank form and a copy of a utility bill from the landlord are required. www.standardbank.co.za
ABSA
Non-nationals can open a bank account upon presentation of a valid passport and a work permit. Proof of address is
required. Migrants or asylum seeker permits do not qualify but those who have refugee status are accepted.
www.absa.co.za
Capitec
Capitec only accepts South African citizens and foreigners with a valid passport accompanied by a permanent
residence permit. In addition to this, proof of address in the form of utility bills is required.
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SAMPLE of business documentation - quote
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SAMPLE of business documentation - INVOICE
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SAMPLE of business documentation - sales receipts
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SAMPLE of business documentation - delivery note sample
DELIVERY/AFLEWERING
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M
PLEASE RECEIVE from
ONTVANG ASB. van
in good order and condition the undermentioned Goods, viz.
die ondergemelde goedere in bevredigende toestand:
Signed
Geteken
2.4) Personal documentation
resources
Definition of a refugee
According to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) pamphlet, ’A refugee is any person who is forced
to leave their country and seek the protection of another country. The main reason for leaving their country relate to
persecution because of one’s race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.
The other reason relates to events seriously disturbing peace or public order such as internal conflicts, wars or serious
violations of one’s human rights. A refugee is only able to go back to their country when the conditions which led to
such person leaving it to begin with, no longer exist.’
Some people would argue that the term refugee should encompass even those fleeing family members intending them
harm with their freedom or lives in danger. This also can extend to girls fleeing culturally forced marriages and maybe
those being forced to flee because of their sexual orientation as in the case of gay people fleeing their homophobic
country political administrations.
According to the UNHCR pamphlet, refugees enjoy basic human rights under South Africa’s constitution,
including the right:
• Not to be forcibly deported from the country except as provided for under its international and national obligations
• To be part of non-political and non-profit making associations and trade unions
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
To acquire movable and immovable property
To work
To attend primary, secondary and tertiary education
To access primary and emergency health care
To be referred for further medical treatment
To acquire an identity and travel document
To pursue the unity of the family
Excluded are people who have committed crimes against humanity, peace, war crime and those who have committed
serious non-political crime outside SA which if committed here would be punishable by imprisonment, also excluded
are those who have already received protection in another country.
Refugees’ Responsibilities
Refugees must respect and obey the laws and regulations of South Africa, as everyone else living in South Africa. If he or she
engages in illegal activities or violate any law, they may be charged in accordance with the relevant laws of the country.
To get more information on the latest amendments and enactments by Government one can subscribe to the online
Government Gazette by following the link: www.greengazette.co.za/join/
Refugees have 5 days to report to a refugee reception centre. There are refugee reception offices in most provinces in
South Africa:
JohannesburG:
Home Affairs office that must
accept all applications for asylum in
Johannesburg:
Diepsprodukte Building; 19 Planet
Avenue Crown Mines, Johannesburg,
Gauteng, South Africa.
Phone: 011 226 4600
Fax: 011 226 4603/02
City of Johannesburg Migrant
Help Desk assists migrants with
accessing government services in
Johannesburg and general advice
to migrants:
C J Cronje Building 80 Loveday
Street, Johannesburg, Gauteng,
South Africa
Pretoria
Corner DF Malan Drive and Struben
Street, Pretoria West
Phone: 012 327 3515
Fax: 012 327 5762
Port Elizabeth
KIC 5 Sidon Street, North End
Phone: 041 403 7412/13
Fax: 041 403 7433
Durban
132 Moore Street
Phone: 031 362 1205
Fax: 031 362 1220
Cape Town
412 Voortrekker Road
Phone: 021 380 5000
Fax: 021 421 5028
Musina
8 Harold Grenfell Street
(next to Post Office)
Phone: 015 534 5300
Fax: 015 534 5332
For any changes in the location of refugee reception areas please visit: http://www.home-affairs.gov.za
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Home Affairs Refugee Reception Offices
Asylum seeker permit
After undergoing all the required formalities at the refugee office, the applicant will be issued with an asylum seeker
permit. All these services are free, and you should not be asked to pay.
In the case of non-English speakers, the Refugee Reception Office can provide interpreters, if this is not possible the
applicant can bring an interpreter at their own cost.
An asylum seeker permit gives the holder freedom of movement around the country and entitles the holder to
employment and study. It may be renewed at any Refugee Reception Office in South Africa.
The duration for asylum seeker permits vary depending on the applicant’s case with the maximum time granted being
6 months. Usually this permit indicates that the holder must report for a second interview at a time determined by
Home Affairs.
Failure to renew a permit
Failure to renew a permit on time may attract penalties from Home Affairs ranging from letters of warning to hefty fines.
The asylum seeker should visit the Refugee Reception Office the day after expiry to avoid being penalised. Currently the
fine stands at R2,500.00 for an expired document.
Refugee status
After a period of time determined by Home Affairs and through interviews by the Refugee Status Determination Officer
(RSDO), the applicant may be granted Refugee Status after undergoing the second interview. Having Refugee Status
will afford him or her most rights enjoyed by citizens of the country except the right to vote.
A case may also be rejected as being manifestly unfounded meaning it does not have a potential refugee basis. For this
the applicant will have to write a letter within 14 days to the Standing Committee where it would have been referred.
If he/she is rejected, they have the right to appeal. Unless it is rejected as unfounded, then an applicant can lodge an
appeal with the Refugee Appeal Board within 30 days or go through a legal practitioner.
Refugee ID
Granting of refugee status is at the discretion of Home Affairs, after acquiring this status the refugee can apply for a
Refugee Identity Document at the Refugee Reception Office. This will be valid for the duration of the refugee status and
may be renewed prior to its expiry date.
United Nations Travel Document (UNCTD)
After the acquisition of the ID book the artist may apply for a United Nations Travel Document (UNCTD) which is a
refugee passport. This document allows the refugee to travel anywhere in the world (depending on visa requirements)
except to their countries of origin. The processing of the ID book and the travel document is done in Pretoria and is a
lengthy process taking up to a year in some cases. So it is advisable to submit an application as soon as possible.
Permanent residence
After 5 years of being a continuous refugee, you may apply for permanent residence. The application may be done at a
Refugee Reception Office or through a legal practitioner.
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Exceptional skills work permit
According to the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 one can apply for an exceptional skills work permit at Home Affairs.
This can be done while still in their country of origin or while they are in South Africa. The processing time varies but
an applicant can confirm the expected processing time of their application with Home Affairs before initiating the
application. The maximum duration granted is 3 years. If an applicant is applying for this maximum period of time then
their passport has to be valid for at least 3 years and one month. The cost is R1,520.00 or the equivalent in US dollars
or Euros. Applicants are also required to lodge a deposit of an amount determined by Home Affairs. Please note that
the conditions relating to this permit might have changed, for more information visit: www.home-affairs.gov.za
Study permit
A person applying for a study permit has to undergo the same type of application process as that of the exceptional
skills work permit but with slight variations of requirements and the costs involved. The applicant will need an official
letter from the intended institution of learning. The letter must also state the duration of the study. Most institutions of
higher learning have departments which assist foreign students while still in their countries of origin.
Business permit
More or less the same application procedure applies here as for the Exceptional Skills Work Permit and the Study
Permit. However, the sectors approved for a business permit are the following: tourism, crafts, automotive
manufacturing, Information T, clothing and textile manufacturing, chemicals and bio-technology, agro-processing,
metals and minerals refinement.
A basic requirement is that the applicant needs to invest or intend to invest R 2.5 million within 24 months. Apart from
the other requirements, the applicant should submit a business plan. The business has to employ at least 5 South
African citizens or permanent residents. If issued, working activities will be limited to the business described in the
Business Permit. For more information on documentation please visit www.non-resident.co.za
Life partner permit
This is granted to a foreign national with a Life Partner who is a South African citizen. For one to be considered for this
permit the relationship has to be permanent. If successful the foreign national is granted temporary residency permit
of up to 3 years which is renewable. A permanent residency permit application may be made if the relationship can be
proven to be permanent after a 5 year period.
Documentation required
People intending to apply for exceptional skills work, study or business permits have to submit the following:
• Valid passport with at least one double-sided blank page. This can be accompanied by sworn translations into an official South African language if necessary.
• The artist must show proof of sufficient financial means in the form of bank statements or traveller’s cheques.
• Return ticket to county of origin and a deposit or a written undertaking from an employer accepting responsibility for
the costs of repatriation if applicable.
• 2 passport photos.
• A letter from a foreign or South African body confirming the applicant’s skills and qualifications.
• CV references and testimonials.
• Additional proof e.g. in the form of publications if available is an added advantage.
• Motivational letter from applicant.
• Police clearance certificate from a country domiciled for more than 12 months upon attaining the age of adulthood.
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• Medical report
• Radiological report also known as B1-806 form. Prospective immigrants from 12 years and above are required to have a chest examination by a medical professional who then completes the form.
• Yellow fever vaccination certificate if coming from or intending to visit a Yellow Fever Endemic Area.
Additional documentation
• Marriage certificate or affidavit (proof is required) if married.
• Full birth certificates of individual children if they are going to accompany the applicant.
• Proof of adoption, guardianship, custody or consent to travel - may be required for minors.
• A completed temporary residence application form.
• Affidavit of spousal relationship in case of a life partner.
NB: The Police clearance certificate, medical and radiological reports should not be older than 6 months.
Lost permit
If a permit is lost, one should report it lost without delay, to the nearest police station and get an affidavit. Take the
affidavit and a copy of the permit, if you have one, to Home Affairs and a new permit will be issued. If it should happen
that persons are arrested for being undocumented, they must know that they are entitled to legal recourse. Legal
Resources Centres countrywide can be approached for assistance.
Human trafficking
If you or you know someone was brought into South Africa by someone promising one thing, but instead find yourself
being engaged to do something totally different, you may have been a victim of human trafficking. Human traffickers
have been known to bring men, women and children from other countries for domestic servitude, commercial and
sexual exploitation, etc.
International Organisation of Migration (IOM) in South Africa works as the Southern African Counter-Trafficking
Assistance Programme (SACTAP) to combat trafficking and assist victims. Campaigns were launched with the aim of
sensitizing the public on this form of modern-day slavery. If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking,
contact Human Trafficking Hotline (Toll free): 0800 555 999
RESOURCES
International Organisation of
Migration (IOM)
Pretoria regional head office
Phone: 012 342 2789
Fax: 012 342 0932
Website: www.iom.org.za
Cape Town office:
Phone: 021 425 4038
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The Consortium for Refugees and
Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA)
CoRMSA is a registered Non Profit
Organisation tasked with promoting
and protecting refugee and migrant
rights. It is comprised of a number
of member organisations including
legal practitioners.
Braamfontein Centre 23 Jorissen
Street Braamfontein, Johannesburg,
Gauteng 2001
Phone: 011 403 7560
www.cormsa.org.za
Passop:
People Against Suffering
Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP)
offer free paralegal advice and
assistance with launching appeals.
37 Church Street, Wynberg (corner of
Main Road and Church Street)
Phone: 021 820 4664
E-mail: office@passop.co.za
Fax: 086 517 6812
www.passop.org
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2.5 LEGAL ASSISTANCE
ARTISTS LEGAL DOCUMENTS
Artright is a great resource for legal assistance pertaining to the visual arts specifically but also the arts in general.
The legal documents listed below can be downloaded: www.artright.co.za/artbusiness/legal/understanding-legal-terms/
Dispute Resolution Clause
The Dispute Resolution Clause outlines how a dispute is settled when the parties are in disagreement about
anything in the contract. The clause permits the party starting a claim to choose between either the Small Claims
Court (when the claim is less than R7,000) or, otherwise, negotiation, mediation or arbitration. The Dispute
Resolution Clause is incorporated into all the contracts on ARTRIGHT. This simple contract is used when an artwork
is sold from an artist to a buyer.
Sale of a 2D Artwork with Rights
This contract is similar to the sale of an artwork by a seller/artist. This agreement, however, entitles the artist to
added rights.
Sale of a 2D Artwork by an Owner
This agreement is the same as the Sale of a 2D Artwork by an Artist, the artist, however, has been replaced with the seller.
Invoice for the Sale of an Artwork
An Invoice is issued by the artist / seller to the buyer once the artwork has been sold. The invoice is a request for
payment. An invoice describes the artwork, the delivery address, the price of the work and the terms of payment. It is
normally given to the buyer and provides an itemised bill of what is owed.
Certificate of Authenticity
A Certificate of Authenticity describes the artwork and guarantees the buyer that the work is an original work by a
specific artist. A gallery, an artist or any other seller can produce a certificate of authenticity on a buyer’s request.
Valuation Certificate
A Valuation Certificate is often requested by collectors and art owners to evaluate an artwork. The certificate will
normally be provided by a reputable professional who has a good idea of the art market. The Valuation Certificate is
useful for a variety of business purposes.
Commissioning of an Artwork
This agreement is used when an art buyer would like to commission an artwork from an artist. The agreement
describes what the commissioning process entails, how payments are to be made during the process and
when payments should be made. This contract is more advanced than the others and the users should be fairly
comfortable with contracts or use a commissioning agent to mediate the process. The commissioning agent is
normally your gallery or art agent.
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Agreement to create a Limited Edition
This agreement is used when an artist wants to create a work and hires a print studio or sculpture studio to complete
the limited edition of work. Once the work has been created the agreement is terminated, unless the artist allows the
studio to sell the artwork on their behalf. This contract is more advanced than the others and the users should be
comfortable with contracts or use a lawyer.
Agreement to Publish a Limited Edition
This agreement is used when an artist and a print studio or a sculpture studio collaborate with each other to create a limited
edition. The main difference between this agreement and the Agreement to Create a Limited Edition is that the creation of
the edition is collaborative and the studio is helping the artist to finance and support the project. Since the studio and the
artist are taking the risk of creating the edition together, the ownership of the edition is shared between the two parties.
Editions and Multiples Documentation
This document provides factual information about the edition or multiples that were created in a studio. It may
accompany an edition with a certificate of authenticity.
Receipt and Holding of an Artwork
This agreement is used when an artwork is left at a gallery or storage company for the purpose of storage only. The
work cannot be exhibited, photographed or used for any other commercial purpose.
Consignment Agreement
Art is sold on consignment when an artist or an art owner allows a gallery to exhibit and promote their work of art for
a period of time without the gallery actually owning the works. The gallery takes a commission for selling the work.
Ownership of the work remains with the artist. Only on full payment will the ownership transfer from the artist to the buyer.
Consignment Record
A consignment record is used to add new works of art to a consignment agreement if the terms of the existing
consignment agreement are still valid. The record is signed by both parties and it is attached to the original
consignment agreement.
Artist Gallery Agreement
The artist gallery agreement outlines the relationship between the artist and a gallery. It stipulates how the gallery will
represent the artist and the artist’s work. This contract is more advanced than the others and the users understand
contracts well or use a lawyer.
Rental of an Artwork
This agreement is used when an artwork is rented to a collector and determines the terms of the rental.
Exhibition Loan Agreement
This agreement is similar to the Rental of an Artwork agreement, but in this case the work is loaned free of charge for
exhibition purpose only.
Condition Report
The condition report outlines the condition of the artwork and the frame. It is used when an artwork is delivered to
a gallery, collector, storage house or any other third party. When the work is returned to the owner, and it has been
damaged, the condition report will be able to prove that there is damage and show the extent of the damage.
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Copyright License Agreement
This agreement licenses the copyright from an artist to a third party. The third party is then allowed to use the image of
the artwork for a specific use as outlined in the contract.
OTHER LEGAL SERVICES
Below is a list of organizations offering legal services. It is advisable to first query with the organisation if you will
be required to pay for the services provided. The University of Cape Town and Legal Resources centres and Legal
Aid Board usually offer free legal advice.
Law Clinics
University of Cape Town (UCT) Law Clinic
4th Level, Kramer Law School Building, 1 Stanley Road Middle Campus
University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701
Phone: 021 650 3775
Email: uctlawclinic@uct.ac.za
Hours: Monday to Thursday 08:30-13:00 (appointment necessary)
Services: All services for refugees/asylum seekers are free of charge. General legal advice to refugees/asylum seekers;
representing refugee clients at appeal hearings; providing assistance with family reunification, voluntary repatriation
and resettlement applications; liaising with Home Affairs on issues affecting refugees.
Most universities in South Africa have legal clinics which can be approached for assistance:
• University of Durban-Westville: 031 204 4445/4821
• University of Fort Hare: 040 602 2236
• University of the Orange Free State: 051 401 2451
• University of Natal (Durban): 031 260 2867
• University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg): 033 260 5778
• University of the North: 015 268 2903
• University of the North West: 018 389 2510
• University of Port Elizabeth: 041 504 2190
• Potchefstroom University: 018 299 1950
• University of Pretoria: 012 420 4158
• Rand Afrikaans University: 011 489 2141
• Rhodes University: 046 603 8427
• University of South Africa: 012 429 8439
• University of Stellenbosch: 021 808 3195/2
• University of Venda: 015 962 8217
• Vista University (Bloemfontein Campus): 051 505 1386
• University of the Western Cape: 021 959 2756
• University of the Witwatersrand: 011 717 8562
• Wits University Legal Aid Clinic 011 717 8562
• University of Zululand: 035 902-6192 or 793 3911
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Legal Resources Centres
Johannesburg
15th and 16th Floor, Bram Fischer Towers,
20 Albert Street, Marshalltown
Phone: 011 836 9831
Cape Town
3rd Floor, Greenmarket Place, 54 Shortmarket St
Phone: 021 481 3000
Grahamstown
116 High Street
Phone: 046 622 9230
Durban
N240 Diakonia Centre, 20 St Andrews St
Phone: 031 301 7572
Finding an attorney
The Law Society of South Africa:
The Law Society of South Africa is the umbrella body for the attorneys in South Africa. Listed on their website are
registered attorneys per area.
www.lssa.org.za / Phone: 012 362 1729
Provincial law societies:
Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope:
Phone: 021 424 8060
Law Society of the Free State:
Phone: 051 447 3237
Gauteng Law Council:
Phone: 012 323 0400
KwaZulu-Natal Law Society:
Phone: 031 451 304
Mpumalanga Attorneys Council:
Phone: 017 647 298, Fax 017 647 1260
North West Circle Council:
Phone: 014 592 9315/6, Fax 014 597 1591
Circle Council of the Northern Province:
Phone: 015 295 6402, Fax 015 295-8006
Law Society of the Northern Provinces:
Phone: 012 323 0400
Black Lawyers Association:
Phone: 011 403 0802, Fax 011 403 0814
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Lawyers for
Human Rights
Below is a list of Lawyers for Human
Rights offices in South Africa:
Johannesburg
2nd Floor Braamfontein Centre 23
Jorissen Street (corner of Jorissen
and Jan Smuts) Braamfontein
www.lhr.org.za/offices/
johannesburg-office-and-law-clinic
Phone: 011 339 1960
The Legal Aid Board
If one finds him or herself on the wrong side of the law in criminal matters such
as robbery, theft or assault etc, one can approach the Legal Aid Board in the area
where the matter has been reported for legal representation.
For information to find the nearest legal Aid Board visit their website:
www.legal-aid.co.za/index.php/Satellite-Offices.html
Report of Human Rights Abuse
If one feels his/her human rights have been violated, he/she can approach South
African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) at any of their branches countrywide.
Website: www.sahrc.org.za
Durban
Complaints against Government Departments
Room S104, Diakonia Centre,
20th Diakonia Avenue
www.lhr.org.za/offices/durbanoffice-and-law-clinic
Phone: 031 301 0531
Contact the National Prosecuting Authority for complaints against
government departments.
Musina
18 Watson Avenue
www.lhr.org.za/offices/musina-office
Phone: 015 534 3437
Pretoria
Kutlwanong Democracy Centre,
357 Visagie Street
www.lhr.org.za/offices/pretoriaoffice-and-law-clinic
Phone: 012 320 2943
Stellenbosch
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)
Postal address:National Prosecuting Authority
National Director of Public Prosecutions
Private Bag X751, Pretoria
Phone: 012 845 6755
www.npa.gov.za
Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD)
For complaints against the police, one can seek redress from the
Independent Complaints Directorate.
City Forum Building, 114 Vermeulen Street, Pretoria
Postal address: Private Bag x 941 Pretoria 0001
Phone: 012 399 0000
www.icd.gov.za
Corobrick Offices Bridge Street
www.lhr.org.za/offices/stellenboschoffice
Phone: 021 887 1003
Upington
Room 101 & 102 Rivercity Centre
Corner Scott and Hill Streets
www.lhr.org.za/offices/upington-office
Phone: 054 331 2200
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GEneral
Copyright
Copyright is a form of intellectual property. Copyright, as the word suggests, is the right of the copyright owner not
to have their creative work copied by someone else. Copyright applies to literary, musical and artistic works and the
design and layout of these creative works. Copyright also applies to website content, movies, DVDs, videos and video
games, sound recordings, satellite images and sounds, as well as computer programmes.
COPYRIGHT Resources
The Publisher's Association or South Africa (PASA)
A free copyright information guide is available from PASA, it is mostly applied to publishing, but has general
information about copyright also. Download it at:
www.publishsa.co.za/downloads/copyright_information_guide.pdf
Artright
also has extensive information on copyright, see www.artright.co.za/artbusiness/legal/copyright/ for more info,
including answers to the following questions:
• What is protected by copyright?
• How does copyright cone into existence?
• Who owns copyright?
• How long does copyright last?
• How is copyright enforces?
• Which acts do not infringe on copyright?
• How is it known that a copyright exists in an art work?
• Information on Licensing copyright
• Information on Copyright in public sculpture
Creative Commons
www.creativecommons.org
Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DARLO)
www.dalro.co.za
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general
Sending money options
Western Union
One of the most popular ways for sending money worldwide is through Western Union. To send and receive money, you
will need to present your current government- issued ID. In addition to this, to receive funds you will need to bring your
Money Control Transfer Number – contact your nearest Western Union branch to apply for one.
Visit the website for information on the nearest agent
www.westernunion.com
Moneygram
Migrants with refugee status are permitted to send money via Moneygram on presentation of a current governmentissued ID. Proof of residence and proof of earnings should be presented. A work contract and a payslip not older than
3 months will suffice as proof of earnings. Proof of residence can be in the form of a lease agreement or utility bill also
not older than 3 months.
Those on work permits will have to present valid passports with permits as well as proof of residence as in the case of
refugee status permit holders.
Visit the website for information on the nearest agent
www.moneygram.com
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African Arts Institute is kindly sponsored by Spier