This year’s Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards — recognising partnerships between the business and art sectors — takes place against a backdrop of difficult economic conditions; a global energy crisis, stagnant economic growth, accelerated inflation and muted business confidence. The mood is sombre. One might wonder then, why do (should) businesses continue to invest in discretionary expenses, particularly those in aid of creative outputs?
The answer is less complex than it seems because the ripple effects of such partnerships go beyond the bottom line. Investment in creativity might indeed be discretionary but it is essential to the development of a healthy and robust art ecology and a thriving cultural environment. In turn, creative outputs enrich our sensory experience and expand the possibility of thought, but they also contribute concretely to the economy through the creation of jobs, goods and services.
Authentic acknowledgement is crucial. The BASA awards — be it in community development, corporate social investment, beyond border partnerships, first-time sponsors, innovation, long-term partnership, sponsorship in-kind or SMME support — recognise the bold commitment that both parties make to the cultural ecosystem. It’s a reminder that the usual characterisation of art and business as adversarial can, in fact, be challenged. That the business and art sectors are interconnected subsets of social life.
In the context of the global pandemic, financial and non-financial support in the form of partnerships, grants, equipment and know-how act as the lifeline that allows many artists to remain in practice.
Looking back over the more recent of the 25 year legacy of the BASA Awards, partnerships have included the Absa Group Limited and the South African National Association for the Visual Arts partnership (recognised through the BASA Beyond Borders Partnership Award in 2018) for the Absa L’Atelier art competition, an outcome of the collaboration, provides young artists with resources, including a residency at the prestigious Cité Internationale des Arts in France, to further their artistic practice. Or maybe a recognition of the partnership between Standard Bank and the National Arts Festival for The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards(recognised for the BASA Long-Term Partnership in 2020).
The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards, of course, reads like an art historical encyclopedia detailing some of the most talented artists in the disciplines of drama, music, jazz, visual art, dance, film and performance art — an archival mapping of important artistic contributions beginning in 1981, including recipients; Sibongile Khumalo, Gloria Bosman, Helen Sebidi and Berni Searle — all of whom have blazed trails, inspiring a new generation of artists in their respective fields.
This year, BMW South Africa and Southern Guild’s partnership is in the spotlight for creating a platform for creator Rich Mnisi to expand on his work as an artist and share his cultural perspective, reaching new audiences for both partners with the bespoke RICH Magazine. BMW and Southern Guild have been exploring the relationship between art and automation for some time but some long-term partnerships reach even further back. This year, the Cassirer Welz Award partnership with Bag Factory Artists’ Studios originally founded in 2011 as the Reinhold Cassirer Award, is a finalist in the Long-Term Partnership Award alongside Nandos and Spier Arts Trust and the ongoing partnership between Sibikwa Arts Centre and TotalEnergies. All of these partnerships have had a significant impact on the lives of artists by creating opportunities, support and exposure for their careers to flourish.
The urgent need to address substantial social issues is also an important thread pulsing through the list of Awards’ finalists in 2022, with many projects weaving creativity into solutions for planet and people. Baz-Art’s contributions to The Museum of Plastic and their Nina Manzi partnership with Viva con Agua brings awareness to issues – the negative environmental pressure of plastic and access to sanitation for those experiencing homelessness respectively.
Far from being frivolous, awards such as these are even more important in a tough economic climate, not only because of their celebratory nature but because they are exemplary to other companies, reflecting the value of sustainable partnerships to different audiences. By honouring interesting collaborations, awards offer models for possible new ways of working together productively — showcasing both mainstream collaborations as well as smaller and more localised community-based projects.
Fruitful collaborations are a reflection on connections that are not purely extractive — harnessing the power of ‘better together’ in increasingly difficult and polarised conditions. Neither business nor arts sectors define themselves by their partnerships, or the awards that might stem from such partnerships, they do however define themselves by the value they yield to society (or at least they should).
This year’s BASA Awards winners will be announced on 29 August 2022 in an event streamed live on www.basa.co.za
Nkgopoleng Moloi is a writer, curator and photographer based in Cape Town. She is interested in the spaces we occupy and navigate through and how these influence the people we become. Writing is a tool Moloi uses to understand the world around her and to explore the things she is excited and intrigued by, particularly history, art, language and architecture. She is fascinated by cities; their complexities and their potential.
