ACT & Market Theatre passionate about development

The 7th annual ACT | DALRO | Nedbank Performing Arts Scholarships has bred positive efforts to groom young artists through the programme.

Apart from the main purpose of finding talented finalists who will contend for a chance to receive one of the three scholarships to the total value of R315,000, the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) & Market Theatre have brought in an exciting element to add onto the learning and development aspect of this year’s Scholarships.

Upon announcement of the three-year partnership in support of the Scholarships, both institutions have taken the relationship to another level by ensuring that skills are shared and advanced throughout the course of the programme.

At the beginning of the 2015 ACT | DALRO | Nedbank Performing Arts Scholarships’ run, ACT announced that two of the previous winners will be part of the creative team as part of its alumni programme. Having gone through the grueling process of preparing for the final show, Chantél Evans and Kamogelo Nche, will now be on the other side as they are unveiled as the first pair to work with industry heavyweights who will mentor this year’s crop of talented participants.

“It would be shortsighted not to exploit the programme’s full and holistic potential as far as the development of young people is concerned. We are privileged to be partnering with the Market Theatre that shares our passion,” says Pieter Jacobs, CEO of ACT.

Lotanang Makoti, a product of the Market Theatre Laboratory, joins the crew as Assistant Director along with a number of the establishment’s current students who will gain first-hand experience by working with the creative team comprising independent and Market Theatre professionals. The Lab, as it’s popularly known, was the brainchild of the Market Theatre cofounder and Artistic Director, Barney Simon, and has become the most interesting platform where young artists meet, engage and discuss issues affecting the arts industry and creative processes. The theatre also prides itself in its efforts to create an authentic South African cultural experience which is committed to providing the highest level of artistic excellence in all aspects of the performing and visual arts in which the education and development of a diverse community of artists, audiences and technicians is assured.

“This relationship with ACT has come at such a crucial time for the Market Theatre Foundation where we have completely exalted our effort around mentorship and giving space to emerging voices. We are delighted to be associated with such a brand as ACT has done a lot to inspire, guide and give a leg up to all deserving young people,” says James Ngcobo, Artistic Director at the Market Theatre.

The work from these apprentices will be revealed at the 2015 ACT | DALRO | Nedbank Performing Arts Scholarships finale taking place at the Market Theatre’s John Kani Theatre, in the vibrant Newtown Precinct on 12 October 2015.

For more information on the Scholarships programme, please visit www.act.org.za.

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Jacques Bessenger (Artistic Director)
Well-known in the South African performing arts industry, Jacques Bessenger works as an actor, theatre-maker and director. He has been the Artistic Director for the ACT | DALRO | Nedbank Scholarship Finals since 2010. Bessenger is best known for his role as Renier in the popular television drama series, Erfsondes, which earned him a 2013 SAFTA nomination and the ATKV Media Veertjie Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He received a NuMetro KykNET Silwerskerm Award in 2012 for his portrayal of the courageous Robert McLachlan in the critically acclaimed movie, Verraaiers; and a Tempo Award nomination in 2013 as Actor of the Year for his work in Erfsondes and Verraaiers. Despite his roles in numerous film, theatre and radio productions, and as a passionate teacher, Bessenger is likely to be most familiar to South African audiences through his appearances in several popular South African soaps. He has appeared in 7de Laan, Villa Rosa, Binnelanders and Isidingo, and can currently be seen on screens in KykNET’s new drama series, Donkerland, written by Deon Opperman.

Franco Prinsloo (Musical Director)
Composer Franco Prinsloo grew up in the town of Middelburg, in Mpumalanga. He studied music in Potchefstroom and sang in the PUK-choir where he developed his love for composition and choral music. He composes in a great variety of styles including choral, classical contemporary, new music, cabaret and theatre as well as pop music and electronica. He has composed and directed extensively for the stage including: Maanmond (2009), Boegoe vannie liefde (2010), Pygmalion (2011), A Dolls House (2012), Skroothonde (2013), A Clockwork Orange, Marat/Sade (2014) and Kind(s)(2015), to name but a few highlights. He is an active composer in the new music scene in South Africa, produces original concerts with fellow composers and performers in and around Gauteng and also composes commissions for choirs, soloists and ensembles. As a solo performer he has toured the country’s arts festival scene for numerous years with classical music productions, cabaret, film, drama and musical theatre. Recently he composed a musical Naledi, an African journey that will première in February 2016 both at the South African State Theatre and at the Choralies Festival in France. “Prinsloo assimilates and unites disparate traditions within his own idiom” – Paul Boekkooi, Beeld.

Lotanang Makoti (Assistant Director)
Lotanang Makoti is a young up-and-coming writer, poet and actor from Kempton Park Gauteng, who studied at the Market Theatre Laboratory. As a performer he has been a cast member in several productions including The Graffalo (2014) directed by Christiaan Bloem and 4 husbands 4 Malindi (2014) directed by Clara Vaughan which played at the Sex Actually Festival. The most recent production he was in was Dorothy Ann Gould’s Bottom’s Dream which showed at POPArt. In his writing career, Lotanang penned a play titled Nine to Fivers Anthem which appeared at Wits University’s So Solo Theatre Festival in September.

Chantèl Evans (Choreographer)
Chantèl Evans was always different from her family: she would dress up in her parents’ clothes and put on a show, interpreting different characters and singing her heart out.
During her school years, Chantèl participated in Eiddstedfords, school revues and drama productions. After matriculating Chantèl participated in the Barnyard Search for Talent competition and the 2012 ACT | DALRO | NEDBANK Scholarships competition, where she was one of two winners. She is currently completing her 3rd year in Musical Theatre at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).

Kamogelo Nche (Choreographer)
This National School of the Arts Grade 12 Learner has been nurturing a passion for dance and the arts since a very young age. Kamogelo Nche started off with honing his skills as a street dancer and he subsequently fell in love with ballet and contemporary dance while doing drama in youth companies around Johannesburg. He appeared in numerous plays and dance productions and is now pursuing Musical Theatre at TUT.

Jade Bowers of Jade Bowers Design & Management specialises in directing, designing and stage management for theatre. Bowers graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Drama and Sociology and received an Honours degree at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) with a focus on directing and design for the stage.

Bowers was the recipient of the ImpACT award for Theatre in 2014 as well as one of the Pitch Perfect grants during the 2015 ACT | UJ Arts & Culture Conference, and she was named one of AfriPOP’s Top Five Female Theatre Makers in South Africa. She was nominated for a 2013 Naledi Award for Best Sound Design for iHAMLET and for Best Cutting Edge production for What the Water Gave Me in 2014, and has recently received a Standard Bank Ovation Award for Tin Bucket Drum which was preceded by a Silver Ovation Award in 2014 from the National Arts Festival. She has worked as director and designer and has the production manager, stage manager, festival director titles for WALE 4.0 under her belt. Bowers is currently a Theatrical Rights Administrator at the Dramatic Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO).

ABOUT THE ARTS & CULTURE TRUST (ACT)
The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is South Africa’s premier independent arts funding and development agency. The primary aim of ACT is to increase the amount of funding available for arts and culture initiatives, and to apply these funds to innovative, sustainable projects that make a meaningful contribution to society. Through structured funding programmes, ACT provides support for all expressions of arts and culture, including literature, music, visual art, theatre and dance, and the support extends to festivals, community arts initiatives, arts management, arts education and arts administration. Follow ACT on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/actorgza or like the Trust’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arts-Culture-Trust-ACT/162339817162875

The Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO) is a multi-purpose copyright society that collects royalties for the use of copyright-protected works on behalf of authors and publishers, which it then distributes back to the correct copyright-owner. As a custodian of copyright and the protection of rightsholders’ works, DALRO’s main areas of administration are reprographic reproduction rights (photocopying from published editions), public performance rights (including stage rights for book musicals and dramas) and reproduction rights (whether for publishing or copying) in works of visual art. For more information please visit www.dalro.co.za

The Nedbank Arts Affinity is a proud supporter of the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT). Since the inception of ACT in 1994, Nedbank has raised and distributed nearly R15 million through our Arts Affinity Programme, in support of more than 800 South African arts, culture and heritage development projects, at no cost to our clients. To open a Nedbank Arts Affinity account please visit any Nedbank branch or call 0860 555 111. For more information please visit www.nedbankarts.co.za

Based in Johannesburg’s vibrant Newtown Precinct, The Market Theatre was established in 1976 to operate as an independent, non-racial playhouse during the country’s apartheid regime. The theatre is renowned world-wide for brilliant anti-apartheid productions as well as the premieres of many of Athol Fugard’s award-winning dramas. The Market Theatre’s history is intertwined with the cultural, social and political struggle for freedom in South Africa. The Market Theatre’s ethos stems from a long line of developmental work through its performing art school, the Market Theatre Lab, and the establishment proudly supports the ACT | DALRO | Nedbank Performing Arts Scholarships Programme for the first time in 2015. For more information please visit www.markettheatre.co.za

ACT acknowledges support from the following organisations as regional partners: University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Baxter Theatre, Port Elizabeth Opera House (PEOH), Market Theatre, Mayibuye Arts Centre, University of the Free State’s Scaena Theatre, Witbank Civic Theatre and NWU Artéma Instituut vir Kunstebestuur en Ontwikkeling.

Author: Gilly Hemphill from The Famous Idea.
More Info link: http://www.act.org.za
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Kamogelo Nche, who was a Scholarships finalist in 2013, will be part of this year’s creative team. Photo: Jan Potgieter

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