The National Arts Festival turns 50 and the mood is bold!

Turning 50

It's come a long way from the cream, embossed programme and cash box-office that launched the National Arts Festival in 1974.

This year, the Festival turns 50, and the artistic community is looking back on where it has come from, reflecting on how it has grown and changed; and looking ahead to its future as an evolving country and its people.

The Festival is still a space for freedom of expression; a yardstick for the South African arts and an interdisciplinary platform for diverse new work.

The mood is bold

Through its unrelenting gaze and interpretation, South Africa's creative community has always provoked, inspired, discomforted, entertained and healed. This year is no different.

From sweeping powerful works like the new Third World Bunfight's The Stranger, to Sibikwa Arts Centre's riveting revolutionary call 1789 and the return of Vuyani Dance's epic CION – A Requiem of Ravel's Bolero – the mood is bold.

Collaborative work made possible by the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and The Embassy of France to South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi sees African choreographers and scenographers working with South African community-based dance collectives, in a project called Third Space, to create new works that will be brought to the Festival.