Media Statement: For immediate release
08 September 2023
Today, the National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC) wishes to announce and congratulate successful applicants who responded to the 2023 Annual Call for Funding across all seven (7) NAC arts disciplines. This announcement is for the call that opened on the 19th of May 2023 and closed on the 30th of June 2023.
The NAC Council and Management are pleased to inform the sector that a total of two-hundred and nine (209) applications were successful, across the seven (7) arts disciplines. The available budget for the 2023 Annual Call for Funding was R28 475 000,00 (R28 Million). The below represents the discipline representation of the 209 successful projects and the amount that was allocated per discipline for all seven (7) disciplines:
| Discipline | Projects | Recommended Amount |
| Craft | 19 | R2 500 000,00 |
| Dance | 27 | R4 000 000,00 |
| Literature | 31 | R2 500 000,00 |
| Multidiscipline | 41 | R7 475 000,00 |
| Music | 35 | R5 000 000,00 |
| Theatre | 36 | R4 500 000,00 |
| Visual Arts | 20 | R2 500 000,00 |
| Grand Total | 209 | R28 475 000,00 |
The NAC received a total of 3 646 applications across all 7 disciplines valued at R1 446 696 601.00 (R1.446 Billion) and only 2067 applications valued at R863 122 753,92 (R863 Million) were compliant and referred to the NAC Advisory Panels for adjudication. Based on the value of the applications that served at the NAC Advisory Panels there is a clear indication that the sector’s demand is extremely higher than the funds that are available for disbursement through NAC Annual Funding.
This challenge has made the adjudication of applications even more challenging for NAC Advisory Panels as it means that they must decline some of the creative and innovative projects due to budget constraints.
To ensure that marginalised provinces are empowered and to address the concerns that marginalised provinces are underfunded, the Council took a resolution to allocate at least sixty-five percent (65%) of the total budget to the marginalised provinces and the remaining thirty-five percent (35%) of the total budget was allocated to the three (3) metropolitan provinces namely Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng. The below represents the 209 successful applications provincial spread together with the amount and percentage allocated per province:
| Province | Projects | Recommended Amount | % |
| Eastern Cape | 29 | R3 191 736,11 | 11% |
| Free State | 22 | R2 969 861,11 | 10% |
| Gauteng | 23 | R3 208 194,46 | 11% |
| KwaZulu Natal | 25 | R3 391 527,78 | 12% |
| Limpopo | 23 | R3 091 736,11 | 11% |
| Mpumalanga | 21 | R3 091 736,12 | 11% |
| North West | 23 | R3 320 902,78 | 12% |
| Northern Cape | 20 | R2 901 111,09 | 10% |
| Western Cape | 23 | R3 308 194,45 | 12% |
| Grand Total | 209 | R28 475 000,00 | 100% |
The NAC has issued general decline letters to applicants who did not serve on the panel due to compliance reasons. This follows a Council resolution to address the sector’s concern about applicants who did not serve on the panel having to wait until the date of the outcome announcements to know the results of their application. Through this Council intervention, unsuccessful applicants now have an opportunity to solicit other funding opportunities or to query the outcomes whilst the adjudication of applications is underway.
The decline letters for applicants who advanced to the stage of adjudication will be issued after the announcement of outcomes and these letters will highlight the reasons for the decline i.e budget constraints or artistic merit.
In terms of section 12(1) of the NAC Act. Applicants may submit their appeals within 30 days from the date on which the action or decision in question was made known by the Council, and appeal to the Minister of Arts and Culture.
All Y23 appeals are directed to NACAppeals@dsac.gov.za with the following information:
- The name and address of the appellant as per your application
- The application number (7-digit number or Y23 reference)
- The grievance
- The reasons for the grievance
The NAC would like to take this opportunity to remind the sector that in accordance with Section 11(2) of the National Arts Council Act of 1997 all adjudications on applications are conducted by qualified industry experts in the Arts sector. Each art discipline adjudication Panel is Chaired by a Council Member, who only plays an oversight role to the panel adjudication processes.
In conclusion, the National Arts Council wishes to thank the sector for positively responding to this call by submiting their creative proposals and congratulate all those applicants whose applications were successful.
A full list of successful applicants for the seven (7) disciplines is now available on the NAC
website on www.nac.org.za.
Ends.
Enquiries:
General: info@nac.org.za
Media: media@nac.org.za
Issued by the National Arts Council of South Africa
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