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Third Writing Beyond the Fringe Participant to Benefit from Belgium Exchange
Thursday 1 October 2009
Brink Scholtz, one of the participants of the National Arts Festival’s 2009 Writing Beyond the Fringe programme, is the third South African writer who will be leaving for Belgium in March 2010 to take part in a fully funded exchange tour to the Passaporta Literature Festival.
This is a continuation of the international exchange programme resulting from the National Arts Festival’s partnership with DeBuren, the Passaporta Literature Festival and the Belgium embassy. The previous two participants of the exchange programme were Niq Mhlongo and Philippa Yaa de Villiers.
“Apart from writing for the theatre, which I have been fortunate to explore in my work with Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company, I had no writing career before taking part in the programme,” said Scholtz. “It is still odd for me to think of having a ‘writing career’, and so it is an extraordinary and wonderful thing to be receiving support to do it. I suppose then it is the very possibility of such a career that has been opened up for me through my participation in Writing beyond the Fringe,” she added.
Scholtz’s script, entitled Passing, is a beautiful and lyrical feminist meditation, seemingly on landscape, but subtly delving into a troublesome father-daughter relationship. She presented this work as part of the Fringe programme of the National Arts Festival in 2009, where she shared the microphone with fellow Writing Beyond the Fringe winners James Cairns, Kurts Engelhof and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers.
“My writing is very much a reflection of what I observe, and so I am extremely excited about being able to write in a very different environment,” said Scholtz about her exchange to Belgium. “I suppose my work often deals with experiences of cultural difference and dislocation, and so I imagine this will be a fruitful context in which to work. Apart from this, I am looking forward to being exposed to other artists, both writers and theatre-makers, and their works.”
Scholtz wants to return from Belgium with a fresh sense of her South African individuality, as well as a greater connection to the world. “I would also love to bring back a sense of other trends in theatre-making, to feed into my work within theatre in the Eastern Cape,” she added.
DeBuren will once again partner with the Festival to present the Writing Beyond the Fringe programme in 2010, and will increase its prize money of approximately R40 000 per person from four to six writers. DeBuren will also fund a digital video project for the 2010 Festival. More details to follow shortly.
The “15 days of amazing!” at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown will run from 20 June – 4 July 2010.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
Ends
Note to editors
About Writing Beyond the Fringe: The National Arts Festival Fringe received an enormous boost in 2009 with a partnership signed with the Representation of Flanders in the Belgian Embassy. This Belgian sponsorship, which constituted about R1 million in 2009, is spread over various development projects, including the South African writer development programme, Writing beyond the Fringe. This project is a partnership between the National Arts Festival and the Belgium-based Possa Porta Festival and the Vlaams-Nederlands Huis DeBuren.
About the National Arts Festival: The National Arts Festival now in its 36th year has proved its sustainability and has grown to be one of the leading arts festivals in southern Africa. Its objectives are to deliver excellence; encourage innovation and development in the arts by providing a platform for both established and emerging South African artists; create opportunities for collaboration with international artists; and build new audiences.
ISSUED BY : THE FAMOUS IDEA TRADING CC
ON BEHALF OF : NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
CONTACT : GILLY HEMPHILL
TEL : 021 886 4900
CELL : 082 820 8584
EMAIL : gilly@thefamousidea.co.za
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