The Gariep Arts Festival, also known as the Gariep Kunstefees, is an annual four-day Afrikaans local music event that happens in the city of Kimberly, in South Africa, usually during the first weekend of September. [1] It started in 1999 and has been running for 18 years, attracting both locals and tourists . The festival is classified as a regional arts festival as it draws people from two major cities: Kimberley and Bloemfontein. [2] [3]
There was a surge in Afrikaans language festivals in the early 1990s that created events such as the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), Aardklop, Afrikaanse Woordfees and Suidoosterfees. After the new South African democratic government showed a preference for English to be the lingua franca in South Africa, the Afrikaans language lost its co-national language status, alongside English, to be one among 11 official languages of South Africa. [4] The festival, sponsored by the Afrikaans Language and Culture Association (Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging or ATKV), is targeted primarily at Afrikaans speaking nationals and those interested in the Afrikaans culture. [2]
The event is hosted at the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens which were created in honour of late Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, an influential figure in mining as well as the first elected mayor of the Kimberley municipality. The 2017 event attracted about 49,000 visitors. [5]
The event is family-friendly and provides different forms of entertainment. There is a children's amusement park composed of a big wheel, roller coaster and bumper cars. There are also art exhibitions, plays, a film festival showcasing new filmmakers, children's theatre, arts and crafts, food stalls, wine tutorials and live music. Local performers who have entertained at the festival include Juanita du Plessis, Marion Holm and the Soweto String Quartet. [6] [7] [3]
The festival also showcases projects to uplift young people in need in the community. These include drama, radio presenting and writing lyrics workshops. The ATKV also provides a short course on entrepreneurship in the arts which is graded as a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) - Level 5, and is accredited by Artema. This course is directed at artists who would like to make a living from their art. The course focuses on providing information on the local network, entrepreneurship, business, financial management, law, labour relations, and project event management. [7]
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and an international park shared with Botswana. It also includes the Augrabies Falls and the diamond mining regions in Kimberley and Alexander Bay.
Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool, is a public Afrikaans medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Elandspoort in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The school was founded in 1920 by Jan Joubert and reverend Chris Neethling.
Kuruman is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is known for its scenery and the Eye of Kuruman, a geological feature that brings water from deep underground. The abundance of water produces an unexpected swathe of green amidst the barren plains and is known as the "Oasis of the Kalahari". It was at first a mission station of the London Missionary Society founded by Robert Moffat in 1821. It was also the place where David Livingstone arrived for his first position as a missionary in 1841. The Kuruman River, which is dry except for flash floods after heavy rain, is named after the town.
Aardklop is an annual South African arts festival held in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Potchefstroom has always been a cultural city and home to several well-known South African writers and artists.
Hartenbos is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located some 45 kilometres outside George, South Africa. It belongs, together with 20 other settlements, to the Mossel Bay Local Municipality. Originally a farm, the South African Railways and Harbours turned it into a holiday resort for their lower-rung employees in 1933.
The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees is an Afrikaans language arts festival that takes place yearly in the South African town of Oudtshoorn. The festival includes both the visual and the performing arts and is officially recognized by the South African government as a national arts festival. Based on the number of visitors, it is also the largest South African arts festival.
Hi-5 is a boy band from Pretoria, South Africa singing mainly in Afrikaans language.
South African literature is the literature of South Africa, which has 11 national languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, Venda, Swazi, Tsonga and Ndebele.
There have been several Bible translations into Afrikaans, a language primarily spoken in South Africa and Namibia. The South African Bible Society released full Afrikaans Bibles in 1933, 1953, 1983, and 2023. Other full translations include Die Lewende Bybel (1982), the Nuwe Wêreld-vertaling van die Heilige Skrif (2001), Die Boodskap (2002), the Nuwe Lewende Vertaling (2006), Pad van Waarheid tot die Lewe (2016), and Contemporary Afrikaans Bible (2020). In addition, several individual books were translated into Afrikaans between the 1880s and the 1920s. This was as opinion had started to change that Afrikaans had become a language in its own right separate from Dutch; prior to that, the Dutch Statenbijbel had been used instead.
Hennie Aucamp was a South African Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated at Jamestown, Eastern Cape before continuing his higher education at the University of Stellenbosch. He died in Cape Town at age 80 on 20 March 2014 after suffering a stroke.
Carellina Pieternella (Lina) Spies is an Afrikaans poet and academic.
Haas Das se Nuuskas was a weekly short television show in South Africa about a rabbit and a mouse running a news broadcast in Diere Land. Created by Louise Smit in 1976, at the time of television's introduction in South Africa, it was the first children's television programme in that country. The "news" typically revolved around all the animals' complaints, achievements and scandals. The voice of Haas Das was performed by a real South African news anchorman, Riaan Cruywagen.
The Afrikaans Language and Culture Association, ATKV, is a society that aims to promote the Afrikaans language and culture. The association was founded in 1930 in Cape Town. Since its inception and up to the end of Apartheid in 1994, membership was only open to members of the Afrikaner Christian community. Membership was thereafter opened to include people of all ethnicities, sharing the same values as the ATKV.
Jan Adriaan Hoogendyk, known professionally as Elvis Blue, is a South African musician and songwriter.
The Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to promoting science, technology and the arts in Afrikaans, as well as promoting the use and quality of Afrikaans. The Hertzog Prize is awarded annually by the academy for high-quality literary work, while the Havenga prize is awarded annually for original research in the sciences.
The Sol Plaatje University, which had provisionally been referred to as the University of the Northern Cape, opened in Kimberley, South Africa, in 2014, accommodating a modest initial intake of 135 students. The student complement is expected to increase gradually towards a target of 7 500 students by 2024. Launched in a ceremony in Kimberley on 19 September 2013, it had been formally established as a public university in terms of Section 20 of the Higher Education Act of 1997, by way of Government Notice 630, dated 22 August 2013. Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, observed at the launch that this “is the first new university to be launched since 1994 and as such is a powerful symbol of the country’s democracy, inclusiveness, and growth. It represents a new order of African intellect, with a firm focus on innovation and excellence." Previously announcing the name for the university, on 25 July 2013, President Jacob Zuma mentioned the development of academic niche areas that did not exist elsewhere, or were under-represented, in South Africa. "Given the rich heritage of Kimberley and the Northern Cape in general," Zuma said, "it is envisaged that Sol Plaatje will specialise in heritage studies, including interconnected academic fields such as museum management, archaeology, indigenous languages, and restoration architecture." Prof Andrew Crouch took over the helm on 1 April 2020 after the term of founding Vice-Chancellor, Prof Yunus Ballim came to a close.
Book fairs and literary festivals are held throughout South Africa each year to promote literacy among children and adults. A country's literacy rate is often a key social indicator of development. In 2005, UNESCO Institute for Statistics reported a literacy rate of 94.37% among the population aged 15 years and older. The literacy rate among the male population in this age group was 95.4% and 93.41 for female counterparts. According to Statistics South Africa, functional illiteracy among those aged 20 years or older, was recorded at 15.4% in 2005. This has improved from 2002's 27.3%. Women are more likely to be functionally illiterate across all age groups, apart from those aged between 20 and 39 years old.
Charl Petrus du Plessis is a South African classical and jazz pianist. He is one of five South African Steinway artists and has won two South African Music Awards in 2017 and 2018. For the past 20 years he has been the pianist for South African singer-songwriter Nataniël. He is also the founder and pianist of the Charl du Plessis Trio which includes Werner Spies (bass) and Peter Auret (drums).
Freemasonry was brought to South Africa by members of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands in 1772. Today there are lodges chartered under the United Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the Grand Lodge of South Africa, as well as Le Droit Humain
Stam is a 2020 South African Afrikaans-language thriller film written and directed by Louw Venter. The film stars Inge Beckmann, Gideon Lombard, Tarryn Wyngaard and Niza Jay in the lead roles. It was screened in few film festivals. The film also won the Best South African film award at the 2020 Durban International Film Festival.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]