SA: Rucera Seethal to step down as National Arts Festival artistic director

Seethal will leave the festival following seven editions in which she helped shape its artistic programme during a period of significant change for the South African arts sector, including the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

During her tenure, the festival’s programme was consolidated while expanding its representation of different languages, storytelling forms and experimental practices. Seethal also worked with the National Arts Festival’s Artistic Committee on programming exploring the intersection of creativity and technology, cross-genre collaboration and international cultural exchange.

“It's been an absolute honour working with the Festival team, a group of people who bring everything they have and more, not only during Festival but every day, to keep the organisation and programme together and moving forward,” Seethal said. “When I joined the Festival, I came from previous work focusing on international and continental exchange. My tenure at the Festival has enabled a deeper engagement with the vast South African arts landscape. We have so much inspiration, hope and creative solutions to contribute to our fast-evolving world. Wherever I am placed, I wish to continue contributing in this direction.”

Following her departure from the National Arts Festival, Seethal will co-convene the Watch & Talk programme at Theatre Festival Basel before joining the Irish government. In her new position, she will work on developing programmes for creative exchange and collaboration between Ireland and Southern Africa.

The National Arts Festival said her departure comes as the organisation continues to navigate changes in the cultural sector following the pandemic.

Commenting on Seethal’s departure, a festival representative said: “While I’m sorry Rucera will not be working with us, we sincerely appreciate her contribution to the programmatic arc of the festival these past seven editions. I’m quite sure her work with the Irish will also bring us into contact quite frequently and it’s reassuring that we have such an experienced cultural professional in her new role, it’s a positive signal for the arts in Southern Africa.”

Seethal’s new role is expected to maintain a connection between the festival and wider international cultural networks, particularly through collaboration between Irish and Southern African arts communities.