Open call: Arts and Culture Trust Thuthukisani Programme Atologa 2024

The call is open to artists from all nine South African provinces and applicants can apply here before 12 April.

Only projects that illustrate merit and viability to generate income will be selected for the monetary investment of up to R35 000 for the roll out, which must take place within 90 days. Selected registered companies will be eligible for the maximum investment amount of R35 000, while non-registered companies will be eligible for a maximum investment amount of R10 000.

This year, artists and arts entrepreneurs across all the provinces can participate in cycle 4 of the ACT Thuthukisani Programme called Atologa 2024.

Categories considered for application

Applicants

• Formal (registered and fully compliant with SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission).
• Informal (not registered with SARS or the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission CIPC or SARS).
• Community arts centres.

Applicants must be in the arts and culture sector and under the following disciplines:

• Performing arts: performance in front of a public audience. May be live or digital, including e.g. dance, acting, musical theatre, spoken word, stand-up comedy, etc.
• Visual/digital arts: ceramics, drawing, painting, sculptures, printmaking, photography.
• Digital arts: making use of technology in creative and art making, ranging across a variety of media including digital painting, animations, photo painting, illustrations, photos, videos, and even sculpture.
• Music: arrangement of sound (vocal or instrumental) to form a functional melodic line.

Arts and/or culture must be the core element:

• Music videos or documentaries about animals, for example, are not eligible for consideration into the ACT Thuthukisani Programme.

Must be a South African national:

• Only South African nationals may apply and projects must take place in South Africa. The allocation of programme slots is at the discretion of the ACT board of Trustees. The decision about all applications for participation is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

To date, more than 73 arts entrepreneurs or businesses have benefited from this programme, in partnership with Nedbank. Having completed entrepreneurial training, development initiatives, and one-on-one mentorship sessions with industry specialists, successful applicants have also received an opportunity to pitch their projects for a cash investment to help them implement their projects.

Participants who make it into the ACT Thuthukisani Programme can expect to develop their business expertise through a rigorous curriculum that covers modules such as asset-based citizen-led development, project management, financial management, marketing, strategic community and audience development, governance, monitoring and evaluation and learning. After having completed the training programme and meeting all the programme requirements in terms of the participant agreement, participants will receive a certificate of completion for their participation.

“After having recently hosted an exclusive online information briefing session attended by more than 100 applicants, we’re witnessing a high volume of arts entrepreneurs who are interested in the Thuthukisani Programme,” ACT CEO Jessica Denyschen said. “This was encouraging, as it demonstrated an appetite from local arts entrepreneurs to proactively use the tools, skills and resources available to them in developing their products or services into profitable businesses without an overdependence on grants, which we often see in the South African arts and culture sector. We encourage all arts entrepreneurs – those with an ambition to elevate their business, generate an income, and ensure that their business sustains itself for years to come – to move swiftly in seizing this opportunity before applications close.”

View the original call here.