The Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSARC) MEC Fezeka Bayeni congratulated artists for their creative excellency at the 6th Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Awards on Friday, 21 February 2020.

The prestigious awards that were in East London International Convection Centre were held in recognition and celebration of individuals, groups, organisations or institutions who have played a role of enhancing and promoting professional excellence in the arts and culture sector of the Province.

MEC Bayeni in her address during the award ceremony said the amount of creative talent this province had produced remained unmatched.

“But I will be the first to admit that most of this talent leaves the province for greener pastures elsewhere. Our task as government working together with yourselves as stakeholders is to reverse the apartheid legacy of spatial inequality and migrant labour, that our creative talent must migrate to Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban to successful.”

Their task was to unlock this creative potential and position the Eastern Cape as the creative heart of the country.

“We are working towards the development of a creative industry across the entire province,” Bayeni said. “We are going to invest in the required facilities and infrastructure for creative industries.”

Bayeni said through the Department’s support to entities like the Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council (ECPACC), the East London Guild Theatre, the Port Elizabeth Opera House and the Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre, they were committed to ensuring that the Eastern Cape does not only produce talent, but that it gets the support it needs to succeed and thrive within the Province.

“Through our support to platforms like the National Arts Festival in Makhanda, Isingqi Sethu Festival in Port St Johns, Komani Jazz, Shukuma Dance and Iphulo Drama Festivals in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, OR Tambo Choral Music Festival and other privately organised festivals, we want to ensure that creatives from our province have platforms to showcase their talent and also earn a living through their craft,” said Bayeni.

The Department received from the public more than 180 nominations for 23 different categories. Nominations were open to any person who has achieved in any of the different categories provincially, nationally or internationally. A team of 7 adjudicators’ who are professionals in the Music, Indigenous Knowledge, Language, Visual and Performing Arts genres selected the awardees for each category.

“Cultural diversity remains the Eastern Cape’s strength in attracting tourists and it should be protected by all means. Thus, the awarding of home-grown artistic excellence reinforces the Department’s commitment to protect the wealth of talent which may so easily be lost to other provinces,” Bayeni said.