Creative solutions Awards recognise and award supporters of the arts.

Last edited: August 31, 2012

Posted by Business and Arts South Africa

Fourteen winners were honoured at Monday night’s 15th Annual Business Day Basa (Business and Arts South Africa) Awards, supported by Anglo American, including 12 innovative business and arts partnerships as well as South African arts advocate, Mary Slack, who was named this year’s Art Champion and Artist Proof Studio, (APS) which won the Chairman’s Premier Award.

Chosen by an independent panel of judges, the winners were announced at a ceremony held at Wits Arts Museum in Braamfontein.

Each winner received a beautifully beaded Ndebele Itelefoni dancing staff, sculpted by Petrus Mahlangu and beaded by Sophy Mahlangu and her arts group Nomhlekhabo Craft Africa.

The naming of Slack as Art Champion proved to be an especially significant moment.

It was through Slack’s efforts Basa was originally founded 15 years ago. In 1997, she became the Chairperson of Basa, inviting Christopher Seabrooke and Wendy Appelbaum to sit on the board, while getting 50 companies to join.

The Chairman’s Premier Award this year went to APS, which celebrated its 21st anniversary. APS’s history dates back to 1983.

The intention was to train potentially talented artists from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to become professionals. The studio now trains 80-100 students each year.

The list of winners at this year’s awards showcases the diverse ways that business can support the arts.

Winners ranged from large corpo-rates like Sasol, which has been sponsoring the Sasol New Signature Art Competition since 1990 and Nando’s, which now has one of the largest collection of South African art outside Africa, to a smaller enterprise such as Pinpoint One Human Resources which has given support to the APS.

Winning in the Arts and Environment category – supported by Nedbank – was the Beacon Island Resort sponsored project Site-Specific International Land Art Event.

It comprised 16 artist teams of international and national standing who were joined by members of the Boitumelo project, a crafters’ workshop, and 18 local artists who created work in and around the town centre and the Kwanokuthula and New Horizon townships.
Mentor of the Year – supported by Etana – was named as Alecia Nkadimeng who has structured HR policies for The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative.

Winner in the First Time Sponsor category was Hyundai, which showed its support for South African music through its sponsorship of the South African MK Awards.

Izwi Lomzansi 98.0 FM won two awards for its support of the radio show Love In The Air where written creative art is showcased in a form of poems and literature and which has helped to increase access to the arts in communities that may not otherwise have had contact with them.