SA’s arts and culture sector is facing one of its most turbulent periods in recent years, as a wave of funding cuts under sports, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie leaves some of the country’s most recognisable festivals and organisations scrambling to survive.
A year after sports, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie let the curtain fall on funding for some arts festivals, many are still struggling to keep their heads above water.
Barely having recovered from the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown, showbiz folk said the funding cuts could not have come at a worse time, with those already living hand to mouth now struggling even more so to put food on the table.
Since time immemorial, festivals entertained audiences and provided a stage for Mzansi's thespians, alongside seasonal work for thousands of people — an entire ecosystem that has now been pulled out from under them.
This as productions increasingly trim their casts to save money.
