National Arts Festival in Makhanda comes to an end

The National Arts Festival in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape has drawn to a close. The festival remains the biggest annual celebration of arts in South Africa.

This year it was a full programme with something on offer for everyone. The programme is continually reinventing itself to stay current.

“The feedback has been excellent. I think people really responded well to the program, there is quite a shift,” says National Arts Festival Executive Producer, Ashraf Johaardien.

Festival organisers are confident that people are still responding positively to the arts despite harsh economic times.

The number crunching for this year’s event has started and final figures will be released in the coming days.

“We are very pleased with the response we getting this year. The program, people have come from all over the country. We are seeing a lot of full theatres, a lot of full houses. We’ve had to add extra shows as we went along, which is a quick response to the demand of audiences,” says CEO of National Arts Festival Tony Lankester.

Festival goers said they would love to come back next year and spend more time.

This event takes on average 14 months to plan, so preparations for next year’s festival are already underway.

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