The Future Festivals South Africa final policy report was launched on 9 March as part of Africa Week at King’s College London. The report offers an overview of the 18-month research project funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) grant.
 
The project, which is a collaboration between King’s College London, Rhodes University and seven festival partners, aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on cultural festivals in South Africa and to build a new knowledge base and network to enable them to build resilience in these challenging times. Working with a variety of festival partners, the findings tracked some of the innovative modes of delivery and online engagement used by festival managers to continue providing work for creatives, reaching audiences, and fulfilling sponsorship obligations during the pandemic.
 
Though these were challenging times for festivals in South Africa, with almost half of those occurring in 2019 cancelling in 2020, there have also been opportunities for some festivals to innovate through the pandemic. There are four key findings of the project:

1. Festivals have been heavily affected by COVID-19 but have also evolved because of it. They have taken new roles, knowledge and leadership in response to COVID-19.
2. Festivals have acted as a cornerstone of the creative economy during COVID-19, supporting artists and communities.
3. Festivals have experimented and tested new online means of delivery and engagement but have not found a defined business model associated with it.
4. While moving online, festivals remain anchored in specific localities and loyal to audiences and place-based communities.

 
There are also a number of policy implications that stem from the impacts of COVID-19 on the festival landscape as well as the evolution that has occurred in the sector as a response to the pandemic.
 
Public sector funders may need to shift their focus from the old view, where their responsibility ended with making the grant and receiving the close-out report, to a much more collaborative, networked approach.
 
Providing platforms for networking, training, and mentoring is likely to become increasingly important and valuable in the ongoing COVID recovery period. Public and private sector funders could consider facilitating such events alongside the direct funding provided to individual organisers.
 
Supporting festivals looking for ways to continue reaching offline creatives and audiences should also be a focus of public funding.
 
Festivals need to be recognised as key enablers of the development of creative economies. Policy needs to recognise their strategic role – and to provide support not only for festivals to deliver their own artistic programmes, but also to be able to grow, network and innovate for the benefit of the overall sector.
 
The report is available for download at the following link: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/199976118/Final_Future_Festivals_South_Africa_Policy_Report_3_March_.pdf

Please join us online for the launch of the Future Festivals South Africa: Lessons form the Age of COVID-19  Policy Report on 9 March 2023 from 15:00 to 16:00.

The online seminar presents the results of “Future Festivals South Africa” an 18-month Arts and Humanities Research Council research project (AHRC, grant number AH/P005950/1). The seminar will launch the final policy report of the project, with the discussion of its key findings and implications for policy. The project included extensive fieldwork and support for festival organisations during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa between November 2020 and March 2022.

The seminar will see reflections from Prof. Roberta Comunian and Prof. Jen Snowball on the project development, its methods and the collaboration between King’s College London and Rhodes University. Ms Fiona Drummond will discuss here the extensive mapping of the impact of Covid-19 on South Africa Festivals between 2019 and 2021. Highlights from the report will be presented by Prof. Snowball and Prof. Comunian. Dr Jonathan Gross will present some reflections on the results of the “Letters, Videos & Pictures from the Future” data collection. Mr Delon Tarentaal will present some insight from the quantitative analysis of online and offline audience participation during the pandemic. Conclusions will be drawn on the lessons learnt and their policy implications.

There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the talks.

The final report from the project will be available to download from the 9th of March 2023.

This event is part of the African Leadership Centre's - Africa Week 2023 celebrations - taking place 6-10 March 2023.

Event Details:

9 March 2023, 15:00 to 16:00

This event is online. To join us, please register for the event on the following link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/future-festivals-south-africa-lessons-from-the-age-of-covid-19-tickets-566969339557