What we do

Our roots

Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is a non profit company whose primary aim is to promote mutually beneficial and sustainable business-arts partnership that will benefit society as a whole.

BASA was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative between the (then) Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (now the Department of Arts and Culture) and the private sector. BASA has peer agencies in the UK and Australia. BASA has over 160 corporate members.

BASA in the 21st Century

Historically, funding for the arts from the private sector has come from Corporate Social Investment or philanthropic budgets. But over last few years, BASA has demonstrated that arts sponsorship, and arts partnership from a company’s marketing or promotional budgets is a cost effective vehicle for the sponsoring company to reach its target markets and communicate effectively with its clients. The arts are uniquely placed to serve both philanthropic, corporate image building and commercial objectives, and the sheer range of options available through the arts demands attention. BASA serves as a bridge between the corporate and arts sectors to help each achieve optimal benefits from such partnerships.

Our core business

BASA's core business is to promote mutually beneficial, equitable, and sustainable business arts partnerships that will, over the long term, benefit the broader community.