On Wednesday, 12 October 2022, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport hosted the Cultural Affairs Awards for the first time since 2019, following a break in the awards due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 These awards celebrate individuals and organisations who have made a significant contribution in the sectors of arts, culture, language, libraries, archives, heritage and musuems across the province. Stakeholders and nominees joined Minister Anroux Marais at the Artscape for the awards evening, which also showcased a number of theatre performances.

 Africa Melane and Jabaar Mohamed (Director: DeafSA) teamed up as Masters of Ceremonies who entertained the guests during the evening.

 Winners on the evening included Siphokazi Jonas (Most Innovative Young Artist award), Leslie Kleinsmith (Most Innovative contirbution of a Legend to the Arts community) and Cape Town Opera (Neville Alexander Award for promotion of multilingualism). Minister Marais also bestowed Ministerial Awards on nine recipients, including opera singer Virginia Davids and actor Abduragman Adams. A full list of all the evening’s winners can be seen here: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/assets/departments/cultural-affairs-sport/2022_cultural_affairs_awards_winners.pdf

 Head of Department Guy Redman emphasised the important role that those in the arts and culture sector play: “Artists are courageous people because they seek the truth and they speak the truth. Artists bring imagination to us and we cannot hope without imagination. Today we honour people who have shown a great deal of resistance during a very dark time in our country.” he said.

 Minister Marais said: “As our economy continues to recover, we must also emphasise the significant role that arts and culture play in our local economy – especially in bringing jobs to many people. People come from all over the world to attend shows at our theatres, to visit our museums and to learn about the unique heritage and culture that we have in our beautiful province. It is crucial that we continue growing all the sectors represented here tonight in order to continue to make this impact on the economy and also to ensure that we can continue working with these sectors in the future. I recognise how the COVID-19 pandemic affected many of you deeply and so it is a particular privilege for me to recognise you and your contribution not only to our economy but our society’s well-being. I want to say congratulations and thank you to all the nominees for all that you are doing to keep growing our arts, culture, heritage, language, archives and libraries sectors. Every single category honoured here is so important in the work we are doing across the province, and your contributions are immeasurable in their worth. Please keep doing what you are doing as you are helping us to bring hope and joy to so many people in the province.”

More information on the nominees and winners is available here: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/assets/departments/cultural-affairs-sport/2022_cultural_affairs_awards_booklet.pdf

Source: Western Cape Government