As the chair of the Grahamstown Business Forum I am infuriated by your article titled “Arts fest seems to be losing its fizz”. It seems that this is as a direct result of lobbying by a certain Mark Rose-Christie.
In my opinion, he is uniformed and the article is sensationalist at best. As business we are concerned by the negative publicity of a poorly researched article about the National Arts Festival (NAF).
If you’re interested in the facts not the hype then I would ask you to take note of the following:
The “new” Village Green has been well received and, in my opinion, it’s the best combination of the previous two venues. This year we have seen the inclusion of the Creativate Digital Arts Festival which has brought the likes of Tom Gray, Toby Shapshak, Daron Chatz and the unbelievable Monika Bileskyte.
For the first time, that I can remember, we have also had a number of street theatre patches with world class acts, entertaining crowds,
As usual, we have had a number of world class visual art exhibitions, music (including Suzanne Vega), comedy, physical performance, dance, and theatre acts.
This was all put together by a highly dedicated and committed team, headed by Tony Lankester, under trying circumstances. Economically, South Africa is struggling and this is nothing new. I would hazard to guess if some traders' and/or businesses' turnover is slightly lower than usual, it’s possibly one reason why. The other reason is that those particular businesses may not be providing what the market wants. It’s been a bumper festival for some of our members which include those in the hospitality industry.
As usual, Mr Rose-Christie laments the absence of the “hippies” and a “vibe”, and while I am not sure where the “hippies” have gone they certainly weren’t chased away by the NAF. The complaints about traders on the street is due to the complaints by businesses in the CBD and this was not as a result of the NAF interventions. This also proves the point that the NAF does listen to business, and visitors' concerns and/or complaints where possible, and of course that it’s reasonable. None of the people interviewed have ever been to any of our meetings or events.
The idea that the NAF or its chief executive aren’t open to engagement, criticism, or complaints is ridiculous. Personally, my first interaction with Mr Lankester was because of a complaint. Since then we engage regularly with him and work with his team.
While I am no authority on arts festivals I can assure your readers that the NAF hasn’t lost its fizz. I encourage your readers to start saving, booking and planning to come to the NAF in 2019. Please don’t let the views of a handful of disgruntled performers and a handful of traders poison your minds.
Richard Gaybba
Chair: Grahamstown Business Forum