Arts festival: National Arts Festival, July 8-31, 2021 programme released

Arts festival: National Arts Festival, July 8-31, 2021 programme released- everything is online due to lockdown regulations

The 2021 NAF was conceptualised as a hybrid event- with live and virtual offerings. Some of the live offerings were able to be hosted, in cities in South Africa. Sadly, the Covid Delta Variant brought live to a grinding halt. The NAF had already cancelled live shows in Joburg when increased lockdown regulations brought the curtain down on hosting shows in venues with audiences-in-attendance. This means that it is not possible to host Makhanda Live as was planned. To be clear, if you are in Makhanda, you cannot pitch up at a venue to watch a show that you had booked for, although you may see action at that venue as the show may be on the go, with a crew, filming that production, for streaming on the NAF online platform.  A provision in the Broadcast Act, allows shows to be filmed in venues, with strict adherence to Covid safety regulations. Ticket holders for what was meant to be the live NAF, are being refunded. An innovation of NAF 2021 is to flight as much live content, as possible. As NAF CEO, Monica Newton says, one makes “appointment” to watch at a specific time. It is like booking for a show at a theatre and attending at a specific time. The difference is that we are attending, online, from home or wherever else we may be. Some of the live streams, will have chat functions. This means that the audience can chat with each other in the chat bar. This is a lot of fun for comedy shows – to see who else is watching – and to connect with viewers around the world. Most live offerings will be recorded and then may be watched as VOD (video-on-demand) during the festival. In addition to the live component of the festival, showa has been pre-recorded –such as the Standard Bank Jazz Festival.  Navigating live can be challenging but it has its own buzz and immediacy. If you tune in and the feed is delayed, chill and be patient. When we attend live shows at venues, there are often glitches and delays and we go with the flow. It often adds to the experience as each live event is a different incarnation. The same holds for ‘live’ live stream- when shows goes out in real time – in the moment – and not as pre-recorded content. There may be pauses and the screen may go dark. It may buffering. There may be loadshedding. Your internet may be slow. Be in the moment and stay with the stream. The NAF website has a help chat and a customer care line, to assist with queries. Info, below, as supplied by the NAF:

Check the Calendar

Find the Festival Here         SAMRO is a supporting sponsor of the 2021 National Arts Festival