R8m for Joburg Ballet

The City of Johannesburg injects R8-million into South African Mzansi Ballet

 

The South African Mzansi Ballet has been given a lifeline following an injection of R8-million; it was announced yesterday during a press briefing held at the Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein.

This financial boost was made possible by the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr. Parks Tau and a Member of the Mayoral Committee: Community Development, Cllr. Chris Vondo. The Executive Mayor said: “I’m delighted to be able to bring Joburg’s support to this company going forward as a shining example of the contribution the arts can make to communities.”

Cllr. Vondo, added: “We recognize the large steps the ballet company has taken in recent years towards transformation as a performing arts company in South Africa and also its successful outreach programmes for the youngsters of our city.”

This R8-million grant will be given for the initial year of funding, with an indicative allocation for a three year period, signaling the city’s intention to support the company on an ongoing basis

The ballet company has already been invited to perform in Washington DC in April 2014 at celebrations to mark the20th anniversary of South African democracy.  It is anticipated that the ballet company will also perform at the time in other US cities, including New York, a city that has a twinning agreement with the city of Johannesburg.

The City of Johannesburg has had an ongoing relationship with the ballet company since April 2004 when the company then known as The South African Ballet Theatre moved its base from Pretoria to Joburg and the then Johannesburg Civic Theatre.

The company moved into purpose built, state-of-the-art premises comprising two ballet studios and office space funded by the theatre’s corporate neighbours, SAPPI and the City of Johannesburg.  The project was initiated and championed by the theatre’s Chief Executive Officer, Bernard Jay.

Subsequently, the City of Joburg has benefitted from its relationship with the ballet company, which has showcased the city provincially, nationally and internationally over the past decade.  The funding as well as the company’s name change to Joburg Ballet will enhance the company’s capacity to showcase and represent the city into the future.

With sustainability, the ballet company is also able to plan well ahead for its two major seasons comprising six weeks of performances in The Mandela at Joburg Theatre every year.

The two pre-requisites of the funding grant are: that the ballet company name is changed to  Joburg Ballet, to highlight and emphasise the partnership between the City of Joburg and the company; and that two representatives of Joburg City Theatres (the municipal entity now operating Joburg Theatre, Soweto Theatre and Roodepoort Theatre) are to be invited onto Joburg Ballet’s Board of Directors in order to monitor the governance of the funding.  The ballet company will, however, retain its business and artistic independence.

“The Executive Mayor has mandated Joburg City Theatres(the three theatres; Joburg Theatre, Roodepoort and Soweto Theatre have merged into one company) to not only facilitate and oversee the initial funding for Joburg Ballet,” says the theatre company’s Board Chairperson, Dr Mongane Wally Serote, “but also to motivate for continued funding from the city in the future.  We accept our parental role in this regard with pride and a sense of fiduciary duty.”

“I thank Executive Mayor Councillor Tau for acknowledging the value that a world class African ballet company can bring to a world class African city,” says ballet company CEO Dirk Badenhorst. “This support for the company has come about through the vision and commitment of many, and we thank all involved.

Children from the theatre’s Development Programme in Soweto, Alexandra, Olifantsfontein, Mamelodi, Melville and Braamfontein – as well as young people from across the City and environs – can now look forward with pride to joining the company”, says Badenhorst.  “By providing these opportunities we are in accord with President Zuma’s call for the need to create more employment opportunities. I believe in the value of the arts to help us seek solutions to Africa’s problems and I am proud to be counted among the citizens of Joburg.”

The funding from the City of Joburg will enable the ballet company to more effectively address the aspects of transformation, including the diversifying of the company’s demographic profile, and to work towards greater social cohesion.  These issues align with the city’s Growth and Development 2040 Strategy and accords with the vision of the strategy: “Johannesburg – a World Class African City of the Future – a vibrant, equitable African city, strengthened through its diversity; a city that provides real quality of life; a city that provides sustainability for all its citizens; a resilient and adaptive society.”