SA: National Arts Council unveils institutional bursaries recipients

Block Institutional Bursaries are earmarked for South African undergraduate students during the 2024 academic year. The announcement is for the call that opened on 4 September 2023 and closed on 6 September 2023.

The application adjudications process was performed by qualified industry experts in the arts sector. A total of 12 applications were successful across the arts disciplines that were earmarked during this call for funding.

“Through this initiative, we have learned that some institutions do not offer arts-related curricula which affected the funding provincial spread,” NAC said in a statement. “In addition to this initiative, the NAC Marketing and Communications team embarked on a media campaign to create awareness and encourage institutions to apply for the call.”

To ensure representativity across all provinces in the country, the NAC took the initiative of reaching out to institutions in the marginalised provinces alerting them to apply for funding whilst the call was still open. The communication was conveyed to institutions in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State, Eastern Cape and North West provinces.

“As the NAC, we pride ourselves on administering such funding programmes and we believe that the funding of bursaries is an essential element for developing the arts to ensure excellence. Through this bursary funding programme, we ensure that South Africa has a sustainable pool of talented artists and leaders which falls within our mandate of developing the sector.

“In conclusion, we wish to extend our profound gratitude to the sector institutions for positively responding to this call by submitting applications on behalf of the students who wish to pursue their careers in the arts. And we congratulate all applicants whose applications were successful.”

The total budget available to fund was R2 680 705 and the budget was awarded as follows:

• University of the Free State – R675 000
• Imbali Visual Literacy Project – R160 000
• South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance – R160 000
• Ekurhuleni School of Music – R160 000
• Market Theatre Foundation – R160 705
• University of KwaZulu-Natal – R147 000
• University of Zululand Creative Arts Department – R148 000
• The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative – R325 000
• Jack Meyer Art Centre – R93 000
• The Animation School – R206 000
• Red and Yellow Creative School of Business – R221 000