SA: 2023 Standard Bank Young Artists revealed

The awards are presented by the National Arts Festival artistic committee to emerging, relatively young South African artists who have demonstrated exceptional ability in the fields of jazz, dance, visual art, music, theatre and performance art.

The recipients of the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist title are Zoë Modiga (music), Darren English (jazz), Lorin Sookool (dance), Stephané E Conradie (visual art), Kgomotso ‘Momo’ Matsunyane (theatre) and Angel-Ho (performance art). 

Each artist will receive a cash prize, development support and a commission to premiere their new works at the 2024 edition of the National Arts Festival in Makhanda, South Africa.

“Siyabonga [thank you] to the Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2023 for selecting us as the recipient for the Music Award,” Modiga, who is a previous SAMRO Overseas Scholarship recipient along with English, wrote on social media.

“So honoured to be a part of the lush legacy of art practitioners that have been recognised before us. This lifework is a waterfall constantly crashing in but those that behold take in its power, its beauty, its serenity, its majesty. An act of perfect balance.”

For more than three decades, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award has remained one of South Africa’s most important and highly respected platforms for the development of local arts. The roll of honour lists artists who after receiving the award have become legendary South African cultural icons with strongly respected profiles abroad.

Designed to encourage the recipients to pursue careers in the arts, a key aspect of the award is to guarantee the artists a slot on the main programme of the National Arts Festival. Apart from a cash prize, each of the winners receive substantial financial backing for their festival participation, whether for the mounting of an exhibition or for the staging of a production.

Previous recipients of the award include Sibongile Khumalo, Kyle Shepherd, Nduduzo Makhathini, Thandi Ntuli, Mandla Mlangeni, Msaki and the late Johnny Clegg, among many others.