26th Basa Awards nominations open

Says Basa CEO, Ashraf Johaardien: "The Awards highlight the transformative power of cross-sector creative collaborations and their contribution to enriching society. The world is experiencing a growing shift towards collaboration and community, and to this end, the awards platform is focused on recognising mutually beneficial partnerships that resonate across sectors and silos. We’re looking forward to seeing who will rise to the top this year."

There are nine categories open for entry into the Basa Awards this year:

• Beyond Borders Partnership Award: Awarded to a partnership that builds brand reputation and audience for both partners across borders, through a project showcasing South Africa to the rest of the continent and/or overseas, or bringing international or intercontinental arts projects to South Africa.

• Community Development Award: Recognising NPO/NGO/CBO/PBO support for arts and culture projects enhancing their communities, whether through education, skills development, contributing to livelihoods or employment, tourism, or other growth opportunities at a grass-roots level.

• Corporate Social Investment Award: Acknowledging vital support for arts and culture projects enhancing their communities. Entries are from medium to large businesses (i.e. with more than 50 full-time employees and over R40m annual turnover) as part of their wider CSI/CSR strategy.

• First-time Sponsor Award: Awarded to a sponsor supporting the arts for the first time, regardless of size, budget, whether it is through CSI, marketing, HR, B-BBEE, or other.

• Green Award: Linked to Basa’s Climate/Culture Programme, this category seeks to celebrate impactful creative and cultural projects responding to the climate emergency.

• Innovation Award: Celebrating the most innovative, cutting edge and progressive partnership that served all partners’ purposes effectively, these breakthrough projects and partnerships should demonstrate great creativity, originality, reinvention, new methodologies, or technological/digital innovation.

• Long-term Partnership Award: Recognising outstanding initiative and commitment to the arts over a longer-term period (at least three years) as an integral part of the sponsor’s strategy. The value to the arts project, the broader community and the sponsor, must be apparent.

• SMME Award: Awarded for vital support given to the arts by a micro, small or medium enterprise with up to 250 hundred full-time employees and an annual turnover of no more than R100m.

• Sponsorship In-kind Award: Acknowledging a sponsor giving quantifiable and impactful non-monetary support to the arts. This may be through in-kind provision of equipment, materials, media or PR support, space, transportation or travel, or any other products or services, as opposed to monetary sponsorship.

Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of experts from the arts and business sectors, and audited by Middle and Partners. The judging criteria will consider factors such as creativity, innovation, impact, sustainability, and the extent of collaboration between the participating partners.

In addition, two Special Awards may be selected by the Basa Board of Directors to celebrate remarkable contributions by individuals, businesses, and organisations to the sustainability of South Africa’s arts:

• Chairperson's Award: Awarded at the discretion of Basa’s chairperson in recognition of sustained and extraordinary commitment to the arts in South Africa, in the form of advocacy and awareness initiatives and/or direct support for the arts, whether in a personal or professional capacity at a local, national or international level.

• Diplomacy in the Arts Award: Recognising foreign missions, which contribute to the development and preservation of the arts in South Africa, as well as the continued prioritisation of cultural diplomacy between South Africa and the international community.

The deadline for entries is 15 June 2023. For further information about categories, eligibility and judging criteria, and entry guidelines, visit Basa’s website https://awards.basa.co.za/. Interested applicants can also contact the awards’ support team at az.oc.asab@sdrawa or call 011 447 2295 during business hours.

Winners of the 26th Basa Awards will be announced at the awards ceremony in Cape Town in September 2023. The event will gather influential leaders, artists, business professionals, and supporters of the arts, creating a unique networking opportunity and a chance to celebrate the success of arts-business collaborations.