National Arts Festival to prove that life starts at 40

AT least 26 countries will be represented in more than 550 performances at this year's National Arts Festival main programme in Grahamstown.

The popular festival, which runs from July 3 to 13, turns 40 this year and the work of 60 former Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners will also be featured.

Festival artistic director Ismail Mahomed said yesterday the festival contributed nearly R350-million to the Eastern Cape economy every year.

"It has become a touchstone for the state of South African art.

"This year our artists have risen to the triple-anniversary challenge with some extraordinary proposals that we are excited to bring to life," Mahomed said.

"The Fringe will celebrate its 35th anniversary and it continues to grow as South Africa's biggest open access platform."

There is also the Arena programme which will showcase the work of previous Standard Bank Ovation Award winners, the Thinkfest which will feature a recording of two panel discussions by the BBC World Service which will be broadcast globally to about 180 million listeners and two awards initiatives – for fiction writers and arts journalists.

Festival organisers are also on a drive to develop new, sustainable audiences and have specially crafted a programme geared towards family entertainment that includes the International Chicago's Children's Choir, The Children's Arts Festival and the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra's production of children's concert Peter and the Wolf.

"We are also featuring on our Arena programme one of the world's best beat boxers, Tom Thum in collaboration with musician Jamie MacDowell, which will appeal to the whole family," Mahomed said.

The festival organisers were proving "life begins at 40" with this year's programme for the festival, also a "bucket list" item for South Africans.

"We are giving audiences the opportunity to think, reflect, celebrate empathise, laugh and to look to the future through this year's programme," Mahomed said.

Bookings can be made on the National Arts Festival website at . - Yoliswa Sobuwa