Every year thousands of creatives flock to Grahamstown to put on a show at the National Arts Festival (NAF).
It’s not the case this year due to the global pandemic, but the show goes on, virtually.
The NAF organising team made the decision to bring the festival to the people 100 days before the start.
Monica Newton, the festival's chief executive said despite the national lockdown, they still wanted to fulfil their mandate to support and create access to the arts.
“When it came down to the final decision of going virtual, we took a good long look at our vision and mission and decided to do everything we could to support the arts, artists and the technical community and to create experiences for audiences, even if it meant doing something that we had never done before,” said Newton.
Despite the teething problems of going virtual, the festival is receiving love from audiences in South Africa and the rest of the world.
“The festival and most importantly the amazing productions that we have on offer have been incredibly warmly received. We have new viewers joining us every day from South Africa and the rest of the world. Our message #wearestillcreating is still heard in many, many places,” she said.
Newton said the shift from getting artists to perform online rather than live was very natural, as there was already an active local and international community producing digital work.
“Since the start of the pandemic, technological advancement has accelerated at an extraordinary pace. Artists in theatre, music, dance and poetry presented ideas on how to interpret their work into the digital space in collaboration with the festival curatorial team and I think the result is a profound statement of the resilience and innovation of the arts in South Africa,” she said.
Because watching a show live is sometimes better than watching on a screen, Newton said viewers can design their own experience based on their schedules and likes.
“We have an incredibly diverse programme with live shows, pre-recorded work, audio work. Shows are anything from one minute to 100 minutes.
"The ability of audiences to design their experience based on their own schedule is also a unique feature of this festival. You can design your festival experience according to your mood and select from and day of the programme as all the on-demand work is available until July 16,” said Newton.
Despite almost everything being a new and learning experience for the team, Newton remained firm that quality still remains.
“Our commitment to offering the best possible production values and quality remains at the core of the programme, but everything from working with artists on their ideas to actually presenting the work on screen has been completely different to what we normally do. It’s been fun at times, enormously difficult at others. Doing anything for the first time is inspiring, exciting, daunting, difficult and challenging but worth it in the end,” she said.
With 100 days of planning behind them, Newton said this year’s festival is a show of solidarity to the arts and artists who have been severely impacted by local and global efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
“It is also an important test of the viability of presenting online work as a source of revenue for artists and festivals like ours. It is essential for our ongoing existence that we explore the digital world to the fullest. Now that we know what is possible, we must continue to ensure that we benefit from the experience. For audiences who love the arts there is an amazing programme to experience and explore in the comfort of your home,” said Newton.