Who would dream of launching an arts festival in the Cape Town CBD in the dead of winter? Mary Corrigall. Here she writes about the surprising success of last year’s inaugural HEAT Winter Arts Festival and spills the beans on what awaits cultural mavens this year.
The winter season in Cape Town is traditionally a quiet one. The inclement weather and low tourist numbers have inculcated a long-standing view that this is “dead time”. Some have even referred to it as the Cape Town “coma”.
Indeed, the plethora of art galleries in the city centre struggle to get locals to attend exhibitions and sales are slow. Exciting shows are planned for summer as the exhibition cycle slows.
During an art writing program funded by the Spier Arts Trust in 2023, I gained a detailed understanding of the realities art dealers face during winter, and my findings and interviews with local art dealers inspired the creation of the HEAT Winter Arts Festival. Their enthusiastic responses, suggestions and commitment to financially supporting the marketing of a winter event centred around the inner city's art galleries led to the first edition in 2024.
OTHER WORLDING
Capetonians embraced the concept of a rambling winter event offering 13 exhibitions as well as opera, music, theatre, and comedy programming. Despite the Level 8 storm last July, 3 656 people attended events over 10 days.
Several shows sold out including Opera UCT’s Inspired by Nature programme at the AVA Gallery, Sue-Pam Grant's installation/performance at the Iziko SA National Gallery and the stand-up comedy programme presented by Comedy In Common at the Outlore Base. A generation of young visual artists achieved high visibility.
We are building on the momentum for this year's edition which incorporates over 16 CBD galleries and live venues. Exciting exhibitions will speak to the festival theme, Other Worlding, conceived by Voni Baloyi, one of the festival curators. It draws attention to the way artists re-imagine or relay reality, revealing our society's deepest desires or fears or plotting new histories or futures.
LONG-TERM VISION
Our long-term vision is to create an annual arts festival that will eventually grow in reputation and size, drawing audiences from beyond Cape Town. Think of the Edinburgh festival. It will take time for us to get there. We are grateful to all our partners who support this vision; the art galleries as well as strategic partnerships and sponsorship from BASA, Wesgro, the CCID, the Spier Arts Trust, Art School Africa, Institut Française, Alliance Française, Orms, Strauss & Co and Capital Point.
Make no doubt, the Cape Town “coma” will be lifted by copious amounts of thought-provoking art, theatre, and comedy as audiences are carried away by opera or music. Culture doesn't require good weather to flourish.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The visual arts programme is the core of the festival. Our gallery partners have all curated exhibitions that speak to this year's theme, Other Worlding. This year's gallery partners include the Association of Visual Arts (AVA), artHARARE, Christopher Moller, EBONY/CURATED, Eclectica Contemporary, Everard Read, RESERVOIR, HUB Gallery operated by Spier Arts Trust (SAT), Nel, Reservoir Projects, Lemkus, Smac, Untitled Art, WORLDART and Sisonke in partnership with SAT and Our Cape Town Heritage. Additional visual arts programming will be staged at the Iziko SA National Museum and the Planetarium's digital dome.
We encouraged galleries to work with emerging artists they haven't worked with before. This festival is focussed on the next generation of artists and emerging mid-career artists. Rising artists from Zimbabwe, Egypt, Nigeria and Tunisia will participate; however, art probing Cape Malay culture will be prominent this year. Some of the artists to look out for include Balekane Legoabe, Nada Baraka, Sahlah Davids, Dan Halter, Richard Mudariki, Johann Louw, Selwyn Steyn, Ulriche Jantjes, Adelheid Frackiewicz, Azuka Muoh, Olamide Ogunade, Rebaone Finger, Kea Seema, Gavin Goodman, Thekiso Mokhele, Colijn Strydom and Gwen van Embden.
This youth-focussed programming extends to the other art forms presented at the festival. Nkgopoleng Moloi, who judges the Fleur du Cap theatre awards, has curated a selection of high-quality theatre works created by emerging theatre makers, which will be staged at the Wave Theatre on Long Street.
Opera UCT's world-renowned director, Jeremy Silver, will once again present a compelling programme tailored to the festival theme, performed by the company's most promising young opera talents at the Alliance Francaise, the HEAT Festival hub. At this cultural landmark in Loop St, festivalgoers can enjoy a cup of coffee, plan their festival programme, and experience a VR work.
The Quiet Life Co, a Cape Town-based sound business connected to the city’s best young live musicians, will showcase a variety of them during the ten-day festival.
Due to the popularity of the comedy programme last year by Comedy In Common, headed by S'Qhamo Mangcu and Nishen Pather, they will present two events this year highlighting the breadth of new stand-up comics on the Cape Town comedy circuit.
The HEAT Winter Arts Festival takes place in town from 6-16 August. Visit www.heatfestival.org to receive early bird ticket offers or to find out more about the programme.
IMAGES: HEAT Winter Arts Festival, RESERVOIR Gallery.
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