Business Arts South Africa Awards 2021: All the winners

The BASA Awards were hosted by Lee-Ann van Rooi and featured local artists Jitsvinger, The One Who Sings (Zolani Mahola) and Native Young.

The annual event is geared towards recognising partnerships with organisations that have made a positive impact through their projects. It is designed to celebrate creative mediums including music, visual arts, dance, theatre, architecture, physical performance, fashion and design, as well as any other form of art, culture and creativity.

The winners were awarded ceramic trophies created by this year’s BASA Awards commissioned artists Zizipho Poswa and Andile Dyalvane of Imiso Ceramics.

JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience was this year’s BASA Chairperson’s Advocacy Award recipient. The award is presented in recognition of sustained and extraordinary commitment to the arts in South Africa, in the form of advocacy and awareness initiatives or direct support for the arts.

“Centred on connecting contemporary dance practitioners from across the globe, the focus and purpose of JOMBA! is to support and nurture the growth of critical contemporary dance in South Africa,” BASA chairperson Charmaine Soobramoney said. “Guided by this vision, over the last two decades, artistic director Lliane Loots and the JOMBA! team have successfully linked important academic spaces with critical artistic practices, connected dance practitioners from across Africa and the world, and made a hugely positive contribution in firmly placing South Africa on the global contemporary dance map.”

Hollard chief marketing officer Heidi Brauer said: “It’s always humbling to witness the power of the arts to challenge and heal and inspire and it’s always an honour to celebrate the organisations and artists that make this possible through unique creative partnerships. We’re just so proud to once again be a part of an initiative that contributes to better futures – for artists, for the businesses that support them, and for all of the communities that are touched by these wonderful projects. Congratulations to all the winners – may they continue to rise and to lift us as they do so.”

Below is the full list winners:

Sponsorship In-Kind Award

• Royal Hotel Riebeek Kasteel and Arts Town Riebeek Valley, for the Royal Arts Town Amphitheatre Summer Theatre Season.
• AkzoNobel South Africa/Dulux South Africa and Baz-Art, for the International Public Art Festival.
• The Bantry Bay Suite Hotel and The Rainbow Academy, School of Performing Arts and Business, for The Rainbow Academy: Making Rainbows in the Time of Covid-19-South Africa.

Innovation Award

• MTN SA Foundation and UJ Gallery, for UJ’s Moving Cube breaks ground with MTN’s Blind Alphabet.
• Mrs Woolf (Pty) Ltd and Artist Proof Studio, for The Lockdown Collection.
• The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and the National Arts Festival, for the Virtual National Arts Festival.

Beyond Borders Partnership Award

• The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and African Artists for Development (ADD), for Lumieres d'Afriques.
• The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and the National Arts Festival, for the Virtual National Arts Festival.

SMME Award

• Mrs Woolf (Pty) Ltd and Artist Proof Studio, for The Lockdown Collection.
• Mindspace Consulting CC (t/a Impact Space) and Womandlachallenge, for the Womandlachallenge.
• The Bantry Bay Suite Hotel and The Rainbow Academy, School of Performing Arts and Business, for The Rainbow Academy: Making Rainbows in the Time of COVID-19-South Africa.

First-Time Sponsor Award

• Sirdar and Artist Proof Studio, for The Lockdown Collection.
• Adcock Ingram Critical Care and The National School of the Arts, for LIFELINES – Chandelier Installation.
• Mindspace Consulting CC (t/a Impact Space) and Womandlachallenge, for the Womandlachallenge.

Long-Term Partnership Award

• Nando's and Spier Arts Trust, for the Nando’s Creative Exchange.
• MTN SA Foundation and UJ Gallery, for the UJ Art Gallery and MTN SA Foundation Partnership.
• Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Ltd, and Outreach Foundation, for Letters to You and Me - an intergenerational project.

Community Development Award

• Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Ltd, and Outreach Foundation, for Letters to You and Me - an intergenerational project.
• Investec StartUp School and Marimba Jam (Pty) Ltd, for Marimba Jam.
• Mindspace Consulting CC (t/a Museum Store Africa) and Impact Space, for Masks4Good – a community collective.

BASA Chairperson’s Advocacy Award

• JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience.