The Big Time Dance Troupe and its choreographer, Eshdey Diphae, suffered from lack of funding and were forced to fight for their survival from show to show.

Diphae went to a workshop at Wits and learnt “how to get business sponsors for my performances” and ensure a sustainable future for the Troupe.

Equipped with knowledge and brimming with confidence, she has since gained media support as well as 5 000 posters from a printing company, which will be put up around Grahamstown during the Festival.

The Troupe’s show Resurrection, He Died, He Rose is one of many that can now come to the Festival due to the nationwide workshops held by Hands On! Masks Off!

The Projects beginnnings

The Hands On! Masks Off! Project originated in 2008 under the guidance of Ismail Mahomed, the Festival director, and with the sponsorship of Business and Arts SA (Basa).

At the time he realised that something needed to be done to ensure that artists could be financially secure, and now he is encouraged by the “incredibly inspiring stories that we receive from people and productions that have gone to the workshops” and are now “coming to the Festival with corporate sponsors”.

He says that success stories like Diphae’s show what can be done with a little support.

Mahomed sees the main aim of Hands On! Masks Off! as being to “change the perception that artists stand with a begging bowl and instead ensure that they are significant contributors to the economy”.

Sustainability workshops

The daily workshops focus on five key fields – the media, corporate backing, sustainability, international relations, and creativity.

By getting industry experts like Tony Lankester, CEO of the Festival, and Michelle Constant, CEO of Basa, to talk to aspiring artists and performers, they can show them how to market their ideas to sponsors in order to become financially stable.

Potential sponsors are also thrown into the mix with foreign embassies hosting cocktail evenings to meet the blossoming artists.

Added to this, Mahomed says there are 27 producers and directors from international festivals who are out and about, looking for talent at this Festival.

Other initiatives that are part of the Hands On! Masks Off! social responsibility project are focused around taking art to the streets of Grahamstown. These include the Banraku/Banrubbish Puppet Project, Phezulu, and the Unima Street Puppet Project.