National Arts Council Finally Begins With Relief Funds For Artists
National Arts Council Finally Begins With Relief Funds For Artists. A part of the 1 215 creatives in the arts, culture and heritage sector are receiving much needed relief as the National Arts Council (NAC) starts the distribution of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) grants to successful beneficiaries. The NAC finally begins with contracting and effecting payment to all compliant and approved applicants.
This comes after artists, creatives, heritage sector workers and cultural workers had camped outside the NAC in Johannesburg for nine days to try to compel them to respond to concerns over payments. Dr Buselaphi Gxowa, a maskandi artist, said she has been struggling to make ends meet and her vehicle had been repossessed. “We didn’t get anything from the department. We don’t even have food. Our department doesn’t care about its people. I can’t survive, my car was repossessed because of the strain of Covid-19. The minister must do better. A lot of artists are dying because of depression. I recently buried a friend due to depression as a result of not having an income.
The new Council chaired by the Acting Chairperson of Council, Princess Celenhle Dlamini, is now confident that all approved, contracted and compliant beneficiaries will be paid by 31 March 2021. Taking to Twitter, the official page of the NAC wrote: “The Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme is a three-month cash injection that will get you back to doing what you do best – creating, producing and working. Submit your innovative, ambitious and creative proposals now! #TogetherForTheArts.”
NAC acting chairperson, Princess Celenhle Dlamini, has confirmed the Council’s pledge towards the arts: “The NAC is committed to continuously engaging with the industry to solicit counsel from all industry stakeholders, especially practitioners, on how to best work together. The improvement of the lives within the arts, culture and heritage sector remains our top priority. The Council has equally set up communication mechanisms to allow the industry to engage with it in addition to industry briefings.”
