FJP
Gilly Hemphill
by Ernest Mulibana and Yandiswa Tembani (FJP reporters)
The 2008 National Arts Festival has been great compared to the festivals of the previous years. Gilly Hemphill, the Director of The Famous Idea Trading Co – responsible for publicity during the festival – confirms that this year’s festival has been great. She said “it’s been an amazing festival”.
Hemphill thought high petrol price was going to be a challenge when it comes to the attendance of the festival. However, she said that “this year’s tickets sales are up”. Most of the people who attended 2008 National Arts Festival are young people.
Furthermore, Tony Lankester, the CEO of the festival says “Despite the economic downturn we’re seeing that ticket sales are slightly higher than the numbers for 2007, both in terms of rand value and number of tickets sold”.
He further says “this is good news for the arts. It shows that, even when times are hard and there is greater pressure on disposable income, audiences are still prioritising theatregoing and making space for it in their budgets,” he said.
According to Hemphill, this year’s festival was not a platform of expressing what artists do not like about the government. It has been a platform of arts. Hemphillsaid, “Shows have changed what they talk about…and people are not angry in the theatre anymore”.
When asked if the National Arts Council has reached its expectations, Hemphill says “absolutely, we are very happy with how festival went”. From 87 venues in which festival shows were taking place, R50 million was generated within 10 days of the event. This is a great improvement of the Grahamstown economy.
Speaking on behalf of the National Arts Festival, Hemphill says that in 2010 the festival will take place for 18 days not 11 days as usual. She added by saying that activities will not only be taking place in Grahamstown, but also in other parts of the country.
Moreover, they will be also part of the National Arts Festival. The National Arts Council is trying to rebrand the festival and therefore the logo will have to change.
Contrary to what HEmphill had said, Jennifer Rowland, manager of Visual Arts and Craft in the Eastern Cape provincial government, said that “this year’s attendance has dropped. This resulted in a strong negative impact on the marketing of our craft brands”, says Rowland.
This festival was made possible by the SABC, Standard Bank, National Lottery, Eastern Cape Provincial government and National Arts Council as sponsors.
Pics: Ernest Mulibana
Filed under: FJP at National Arts Festival 2008, News
