Nominations open for ACT Awards 2010

The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards are held annually in recognition and
celebration of excellence in South African arts, culture and creativity.

The ACT Awards 2010 is presented by the Vodacom Foundation, the Southern
African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), the Dramatic, Artistic and
Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO) and is supported by the Distell
Foundation, Classicfeel Magazine and Business and Arts South Africa.

A salient element of the ACT Awards is the presentation of the prestigious
Lifetime Achievement awards. A Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Arts
sponsored by the Vodacom Foundation, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Music
sponsored by SAMRO and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre sponsored by
DALRO will be presented. Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are selected
at the discretion of the ACT Board of Trustees.

The prestigious ACT Lifetime Achievement Awards honours arts professionals
whose extraordinary careers have had a profound and lasting impact on arts,
culture and heritage and whose lifetime achievements have contributed
significantly to the enrichment of cultural life in South Africa.

“Following the successful launch of the Lifetime Achievement Awards last
year, it is a privilege for DALRO, in partnership with the Arts & Culture
Trust, to honour another theatre luminary this year. As the custodian of the
rights of playwrights, DALRO has a special affinity for those special people
committed to bringing plays to life. There is no greater pleasure than
asking one of them to take a bow and on a special day and to accept our
adoration,“ says Gérard Robinson, Executive Director, Dramatic, Artistic and
Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO).

Past recipients of this accolade include Gibson Kente, Es’kia Mphalele,
Sylvia Glasser, Sophie Mgcina, Esther Mahlangu and Ronnie Govender amongst
others. For the first time in the event’s history, in 2008, three Lifetime
Awards were presented to industry veterans and luminaries: David Koloane
(Visual Arts), Miriam Makeba (Music) and Lynette Marais (Theatre). In 2009
David Goldblatt was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Art,
John Kani was the lifetime achievement winner for Theatre and Joseph
Shabalala was recognised for his lifetime contribution to Music in South
Africa.

“The ACT Awards represent the celebration of the best in the industry. As
the inaugural sponsors of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Music, we are
very proud to be associated with ACT. We are also very honoured to remain as
the sponsor of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award for Music that will
hopefully create an even further foundation for celebrating esteemed
musicians who have dedicated their lives to their art. SAMRO would not be
able to do what we do, if we did not have musicians like these who
continuously create music that inspires those around them," says Yavi
Madurai, General Manager of SAMRO Strategy & Business Development.

This year, ACT will also be awarding four ImpACT Awards for Young
Professionals, sponsored by the Distell Foundation. Talented and emerging
artists at a time in their careers when they have shown commitment to, and
reached some professional standing in their chosen discipline will be
eligible. These prestigious Awards honour young professional artists that
fall within the first three years of their professional careers.

“The Distell Foundation is proud to be involved with the ImpACT Awards for
Young Professionals and we hope by giving support to young artists through
these awards; it will build artistic talent and enhance excellence in the
sector,” says Irma Albers, Arts and Culture Controller of Distell.

Awards will be presented in four broad arts categories with selected
disciplines being eligible for consideration in each.

The categories are:

The ImpACT Award for Visual Art
Artists working in the mediums of Fine Art, Sculpting, Public Installations
and Photography are eligible for nomination.

The ImpACT Award for Theatre
Artists practising the disciplines of Dance, Acting, Musical Theatre and
Physical Theatre are eligible for nomination.

The ImpACT Award for Music & Singing
Classical, Contemporary and Jazz musicians and singers are eligible for
nomination.

The ImpACT Award for Design
Artists working in the areas of Craft, Fashion Design, Graphic Design and
Web Design are eligible for nomination.

Winners of the ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals are selected by an
independent panel of judges. Awards will only be presented if a satisfactory
number of quality nominations are received in the various categories and the
adjudication panel reserves the right to carry over such awards to next
year.

Winners of Lifetime Achievement Awards together with the recipients of the
ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals will be announced at a Luncheon in
Johannesburg in October 2010.

The closing date for ACT Excellence Award nominations is 15 September 2010.
To submit a nomination, please go to the DOWNLOADS page on the ACT website
at www.act.org.za for Guidelines and a Nomination Form.

The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is South Africa's premier, independent arts
and culture funding and development agency.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Vodacom Foundation
The Foundation is Vodacom’s primary vehicle for implementing its Corporate
Social Investment (CSI) initiatives. The Foundation’s contributions,
primarily within the disciplines of Education and Health are focused on
sustainable projects aimed at countering social deprivation.

The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO)
Established in 1962, with the key objective to protect the intellectual
property of its composer, songwriter, and publisher members, the
organisation’s primary focus is to administer the various music rights of
Copyright on behalf of writer and publisher members. The collecting society,
as it is known, is mainly concerned with the collection of license fees for
the use of its members’ musical works by various music users, the
distribution of royalties to these members, and the promotion of Copyright
law. For more information, please visit www.samro.org.za

The Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Organisation (DALRO)

DALRO is a multi-purpose copyright society administering various aspects of
copyright on behalf of authors and publishers. DALRO’s main areas of
administration are reprographic reproduction rights (photocopying from
published editions), public performance rights (including stage rights for
book musicals and dramas) and reproduction rights (whether for publishing or
copying) in works of visual art. For more information please visit
www.dalro.co.za

Distell Foundation

Distell, one of South Africa’s premier producers of fine wines, spirits and
ready to drink alcoholic beverages, has actively been supporting the arts
for more than forty years. Ongoing support is given to a broad range of
creative arts development projects that build economic growth, artistic
talent, create jobs and enhances excellence in the sector.
For more information please visit www.distell.co.za

CLASSICFEEL Magazine

CLASSICFEEL is an award winning monthly arts, culture and lifestyle magazine
that brings the best in classical and jazz music, dance, visual arts, film
and theatre, as well as food and travel, to its readers. Dedicated to
promoting arts and culture in South Africa the magazine speaks to a quality
South African lifestyle for people with a love of the creative arts. With a
clean, sophisticated design CLASSICFEEL prides itself on bringing a diverse
spread of local and international arts and culture to its readers. The
magazine has garnered many prestigious awards, including an Arts & Culture
Trust (ACT) Award, as well as several PICA Awards for excellence in
publishing and the coveted BASA (Business and Arts in South Africa) Award.

Business and Arts South Africa

Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is an internationally recognised South
African development agency which incorporates the arts into, and contributes
to, corporates' commercial success. With a suite of integrated programmes,
Business and Arts South Africa encourages mutually beneficial partnerships
between business and the arts. Business and Arts South Africa was founded in
1997 as a joint initiative of government and the business sector, to secure
the future development of the arts industry in South Africa, through
increased corporate sector involvement. Established as a Section 21 company,
Business and Arts South Africa is accountable to both government and its
business members.

Artslink.co.za Account:
Di Sparks
Behind the Scenes Communications
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011 648 7385
073 208 8483
Arts & Culture Trust
www.act.org.za