Nominate young artists

The Arts and Culture Trust’s ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals are open for nominations for another day only, so get those forms in.
NOMINATIONS of artists for an Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) award are open until 29 July.

Musa Nxumalo won the 2010 ImpACT award for visual artMusa Nxumalo won the 2010 ImpACT award for visual artKnown as the ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals, they are held annually and aim to recognise and honour the country’s young and upcoming artists. “The encouragement and acknowledgement of excellence is of utmost importance to the future of South African creativity,” said the general manager of ACT, Pieter Jacobs.

“We value the opportunity to support emerging artists and enhance excellence in the sector.”

Artists up to the age of 30 who are within the first three years of their professional careers can be nominated in one of four categories. These are: visual arts, which includes painting and printmaking, sculpting, public installations and photography; performing arts, which comprise dancing, acting musical theatre and physical theatre; music and singing in the classical, contemporary and jazz genres; and design, which involves craft, graphic design, fashion design and web design.

An independent panel of judges select the winners in each category. However, there is no obligation to select a winner, and judges will only do so if a satisfactory number of quality nominations are received in the various categories. If the adjudication panel feels there is a paucity of quality nominations, they reserve the right to carry the award over to the following year.

An important part of the awards ceremony is the presentation of Lifetime Achievement Awards, which are handed out to people for their contribution to theatre, music and visual arts in South Africa. Past winners of lifetime achievement awards include Miriam Makeba, David Koloane, Gcina Mhlophe and Pops Mohamed. These winners are nominated and selected by the ACT Board of Trustees.

ACT is an independent arts funding and development agency. It was established to secure financial and other resources for arts, culture and heritage and to project the needs and role of the sector into the public domain.

The awards were introduced by the trust in 1998 to recognise and reward people, institutions and activities which best support arts and culture in the country. The categories for the Lifetime Achievement Awards were broadened in 2008, starting the tradition of three winners being acknowledged for their contributions in visual art, theatre and music.

This year’s ceremony will mark the 14th anniversary of the awards, and is scheduled to take place in November. The awards are sponsored by the Vodacom Foundation, Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro), Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (Dalro) and the Distell Foundation, and are supported by Classicfeel Magazine and Business and Arts South Africa (Basa).

For guidelines and nomination forms to put forward an emerging artist of your choice, go to the trust’s website.