Arts Festivals breathing life into the Karoo
|Published
Organisers of the Journey to Jazz festival in Prince Albert are hoping to lure music lovers to spend money in their small town to boost the local economy. Picture: Supplied.
Art and music festivals are expected to breathe new life into the crippling Karoo economy.
As tourism recovers from the impact of Covid-19 the Karoo region has been hit by a severe drought too.
But the return of popular events to the Karoo such as the National Arts Festival (KKNK), from May 3 to 7 in Oudtshoorn, and the Journey to Jazz in Prince Albert at the same time will help lure more visitors to the region.
These festivals are expected to boost the local economy and provide much-needed employment opportunities, especially among young people.
Chairperson of the Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT), Ingrid Wolfaardt, said tourism was a key economic driver in the area.
Headlined by South African-born singer Melanie Scholtz, organisers are hoping the jazz festival will attract music lovers.
“A festival which brings visitors into the town will not only boost the hospitality sector, but even those like the local petrol station or the smaller retail shops.
“It will open Prince Albert to a new audience, the avid jazz traveller,” said Wolfaardt.
Wolfaardt added that the purpose behind the festival was to create job opportunities and develop skills and competencies across the board while building global connections.
She said the Journey to Jazz festival is an attempt to leverage the assets of a small community to the benefit of everyone in the hamlet.
“Our festival is a first (here) and unknown, so we still need passionate visionaries who understand what we are trying to do to come on board and support us.”
Oudtshoorn mayor Chris Macpherson said that the KKNK was synonymous with Oudtshoorn and brought in a capital injection of about R650 million annually.
“The benefit of total exposure which Oudtshoorn enjoys nationally as well as internationally during the week of the festival cannot be quantified. The KKNK is organised by Kunste Onbeperk, which has events which are specifically focused on the youth,” Macpherson.
Projects such as Karoo Kaarte (Karoo Maps) and Teksmark have been highlighted as examples of events that use the arts to create opportunities for youth story telling.
“During the construction period, as well as during the festival itself, there are a great number of jobs, many of which give (preference) to young people.”
Macpherson said over the years, Oudtshoorn and its partners have made sure that infrastructure is in line with the demands of hosting the festival.
"The infrastructure in town is more than adequate to facilitate all aspects of the festival.”
He said during the 27 years of the KKNK, there has never been a shortage of water. However, the organising and technical committees involved with the festival made provision for any unexpected water shortages which might occur.
“Contingency plans and precautionary measures have also been put into place to mitigate the effects of the current spate of load shedding.”
Chairperson of the Trans Tec SA Oudtshoorn Advisory Committee, Rodney Gelant, told Weekend Argus while they welcomed the festival and its benefits, its positive impacts were often short-lived.
Gelant said while businesses enjoyed an economic boost, the unemployment rate continued to increase.
“There’s job creation on a temporary basis, a platform to experience the arts, and workshops with young people on management projects opportunities for local artists to create a platform,” he said.
“Why are there no longer term employment contracts since the festival makes millions annually? They should approach community activists who physically work in the entire community of Oudtshoorn daily with workshops to see how the entire Oudtshoorn sub-district with surrounding farms can buy in to involve everyone with local performances, renewed art ideas exhibitions, etc.”
AfrikaBurn is also a popular festival in the Tankwa Karoo in April. According to spokesperson Brian Palmer people travel from all over South Africa and the world to attend. “We showcase the natural beauty of the Northern Cape and celebrate the vast empty space that is unique to this part of South Africa.”
Palmer said AfrikaBurn creates income and employment. “ You only have to travel through towns like Ceres or Calvinia on the days before our event to witness this. Not only do we employ local people to help create our event, our event participants spend huge amounts of money travelling to AfrikaBurn via towns in the Northern and Western Cape.”
He said AfrikaBurn raked in R57 978 745 last year.
Weekend Argus