AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Call for nominations: ACT Awards 2007

Nominations are open for The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards 2007 presented by Nedbank and supported by CLASSICfeel Magazine. The Cape Town radio partner is Fine Music Radio 101.3 and the Gauteng radio partner is 102.7 Classic FM. The immense amount of energy, expertise and sheer hard work that goes into managing arts, culture and heritage is seldom seen. The annual ACT awards recognise and reward the work done by individuals, organisations and agencies who played an important supportive role in the development of arts, culture and creativity in South Africa.

Through the ACT Awards, principal sponsor Nedbank highlights its commitment to arts and culture development, promotion and preservation in South Africa. In the nineties Nedbank pioneered the concept of ‘mutual benefit marketing’ by offering the Nedbank Affinity banking products that have benefited more than 500 recipients of grants disbursed by the Arts & Culture Trust. The more clients use their Arts Affinity bank accounts, the more Nedbank contributes to ACT and ACT-funded projects.

All of Nedbank’s Affinity products have been met with astounding enthusiasm from consumers interested in banking products that offer competitive rates and service, while also providing them with a means of contributing to broader society in a meaningful way.

According to Maseda Ratshikuni, Senior Marketing Manager of the Nedbank Arts Affinity programme, “The ACT Awards are a celebration of excellence in the areas often hidden behind the scenes of public events and they salute individuals, organisations and agencies who have contributed to education and training in the arts; created new audiences and markets for the arts; enhanced the quality of artistic productions through generating media coverage; managed the arts efficiently; linked the arts to durable social and economic development; and devoted their lives to making the arts accessible to all South Africans.”

Since 1998 The ACT Awards have recognised more than 90 winners and nearly 300 finalists. Some of the previous winners of the ACT Awards have included amongst others, Sandile Mamela, Michelle Constant, Bridget van Oerle and Lynette Marais as well as arts and culture projects like the South African Schools Festivals organised by the Arts Education Department of the Grahamstown Foundation, and Artslink amongst others. Winners of the prestigious ACT Lifetime Achievement Award have included Gibson Kente, Es’kia Mphalele, Sylvia Glasser, Sophie Mgcina and most recently Esther Mahlangu who won the award last year.

Finalists and winners for the ACT Awards 2007 will be awarded in the following categories based on implementation, sustainability, success and innovation of projects and services, which support and nurture South Africa’s abundant artistic and cultural heritage:

The ACT Cultural Development Award 2007 will be awarded by an independent panel of judges to an outstanding project or programme that has contributed significantly to community development in arts and culture. The ACT Arts Education Award 2007 will be awarded by an independent panel of judges to a programme or institution for a significant contribution to arts, culture and heritage education in the formal or informal sectors. The ACT Arts Correspondent Award 2007 will be awarded by an independent panel of judges to a print, electronic or broadcast media journalist for excellence in arts and culture reporting or criticism and generating significant coverage of arts, culture or heritage.

The ACT Arts Management Award 2007 will be awarded by an independent panel of judges to an outstanding individual, organization or agency for remarkable performance in the areas of art management, administration, publicity or marketing.

The ACT Chairperson’s Award 2007 will be awarded to a project, programme or organization recently funded by ACT which has delivered best against the strategic objectives of their grant. This award will be presented at the discretion of the ACT Chairperson.

The ACT Lifetime Achievement Award 2007 will be awarded to an outstanding individual for a significant contribution in the areas of arts, culture or heritage during their lifetime. This award will be presented at the discretion of the ACT Board of Trustees.

A ceremony to announce the winners for the ACT Awards 2007 will take place on 31 October 2007 at Nedbank Sandton in Johannesburg. The deadline for nominations is 14 September 2007. All nominations must be submitted on the prescribed nomination forms which can be downloaded from the ACT website at www.act.org.za or obtained from the ACT office on 011 802 7646 or send an e-mail to awards@act.org.za.

The Department of Arts and Culture, Nedbank, The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Sun International and The Vodacom Foundation are the Founding Trustees of ACT and Athol Fugard is Patron of the Trust.

An Overview of the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT)

ACT helps to foster and develop creativity in South Africa through the evaluation and support of arts, culture and heritage projects. Launched just months after the inauguration of the first democratically elected government, ACT is the oldest body established to fund arts and culture in democratic South Africa. Since 1996 more than R12 million has been disbursed in support of 500 projects funded through ACT in all disciplines including but not limited to arts administration, arts education, community art, festivals, heritage, craft, fine art, dance, music, theatre, literature and multi-disciplinary projects. Former President Nelson Mandela, endorsed the initiative and agreed to serve as the Patron-in-Chief of ACT. In this way ACT was initially called the Arts and Culture Trust of the President until 1999.

The ACT Board of Trustees, comprised of leading art practitioners and administrators, are tasked with the implementation of funding policies, the evaluation of projects and the allocation of funds. Due regard is given to ensuring a spread of projects across all the cultural and artistic disciplines. ACT also provides bursary funds to formal and nonformal educational institutions specialising in arts and culture, and these in turn distribute such funds to individual students at their institutions. For more information about The Arts & Culture Trust please visit the ACT website at www.act.org.za.

The Nedbank Arts Affinity programme

Nedbank Arts Affinity programme was started in 1994. The programme includes a suite of banking products (credit cards, savings and current accounts), that when a person uses their banking product, Nedbank donates to the Arts & Culture Trust at no cost to the client. Since inception, Nedbank has donated nearly R9 million to the Arts & Culture Trust. The more clients use their Arts Affinity bank accounts, the more Nedbank contributes to ACT and ACT-funded projects.

Donations are made as follows:

Credit Card: A percentage of your purchase is donated to the Arts & Culture Trust, at no cost to you

Savings Account: An initial contribution of R2.50 is made on opening your account. A percentage of your daily credit balance is donated to the Arts & Culture Trust, at no cost to you.

Chequebook: When opening a Nedbank Green Affinity current account, you will receive a Nedbank Green Affinity chequebook – a fixed amount is donated to the Arts & Culture Trust for every new chequebook that you order, at no cost to you.

How can you get your Nedbank Arts Affinity bank account?

For more information or to apply on-line on www.nedbankarts.co.za, call 086 010 2415 or visit any Nedbank branch.

Submitted by Pieter Jacobs (awards@act.org.za)
PR Company: ACT
Telephone Number: 011 802 8594
Client's name: The Arts & Culture Trust
Website: http://www.act.org.za

This was posted on the Art4Development Yahoo! Groups listserv.