BIGGER AND BETTER ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY 2009 LIVING LEGENDS AWARDS

The success of the launch of the "Living Legends" Awards last year by the eThekwini Municipality, Local History Museums department has prompted them to hold the event again this year. The project's success even got sponsors interested in being part of it.  Mlungisi Ngubane Director of Local History Museum says that, "We are giving community members the recognition they deserve in their respective fields. There is a tendency to posthumously honour people. The Living Legends Awards seeks to honour legends while they are still alive."

The community is requested to nominate the legends who are from within the eThekwini Municipality boundaries in the following fields: Sports, Music, Arts and Drama, Politics and Social responsibility. Upon nominating someone it is crucial to provide a brief profile stating why that individual is nominated.

An international project of Make Art/Stop Aids

The exhibition "Not Alone - An international project of Make Art/Stop Aids" opens at the Durban Art Gallery on Wednesday 25th February.  The exhibition started at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles where it was shown last year.

The project, under which it was first shown Make Art/Stop Aids is acknowledged in the title.  This version is a newly curated one which has been conceptualised for South Africa and other venues.  Many issues, addressed in the earlier version, have now changed particularly with treatment access in this country and the exhibition is concerned with this change.  A work made in South Africa, the Keiskamma Altarpiece, was unable to be shown in the original exhibition due to size restrictions and it is a great coup to show this work for the first time in Durban.  It toured cathedrals in the US and London to great acclaim last year and has achieved iconic status.

The project leader, Dr Carol Hofmeyer, will be present at the opening.  Another highly significant piece is "Medicine Man" made out of 300 medicine bottles  and syringes used by the two artists and their friends and the larger than life sculpture is a testament to living positively and an inspiring work.  One of the artists, Daniel Goldstein from the US will also be present.

BASA’s primary aim is to promote and encourage mutually beneficial and sustainable business-arts partnerships that will, in the long term benefit the community at large.

To this end, BASA’s first initiative was to encourage sponsorship of the arts by the business sector. Historically, arts funding has come from a company’s corporate social responsibility or philanthropic budgets but over the past 6 years, BASA has demonstrated that arts sponsorship – from marketing or promotional budgets – is a cost-effective vehicle for the sponsoring company, and that enduring and productive business-arts partnerships can be built.

With growing emphasis on good corporate citizenship, business is increasingly seeking properties that not only reach target markets and communicate effectively, but also address social agenda. Philanthropic sponsorship, sponsorship of a cause, very often has a greater positive impact on the corporate image than purely commercial sponsorship. The arts, indeed, are uniquely placed to serve both commercial and philanthropic objectives and the sheer range of options available through arts sponsorship demands attention.