According to NAF, neither they nor other major arts festivals were funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in 2025.
The CEO of the National Arts Festival (NAF), Monica Newton, said the long-standing festival has not received any clarity about funding for the 2026 edition.
“The National Arts Festival does not yet have clarity on funding for the 2026 Festival. We are currently engaging with the minister’s office at the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to understand what the process for 2026 will entail,” Newton told The Citizen on Friday morning.
Newton’s words came after reports stated that Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has pulled funding from NAF.
However, this is not the case as no funding application round has yet opened for 2026, and the NAF has not been advised of any decision regarding 2026 funding.
According to NAF, neither they nor other major arts festivals were funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in 2025.
“In our case, this was due to a change in the department’s funding structure, which placed the Festival outside the eligibility window for that year,” said NAF.
ALSO READ: Group of festivals calls on Gayton McKenzie to clarify funding remarks
Festivals’ ‘entitlement’
In September this year, McKenzie said that there was a sense of entitlement among art festivals regarding funding.
“The department has found itself in relationships with festivals and their organisers where the expectation of funding has become a form of entitlement, despite numerous other promoters looking to fund new and innovative festival concepts,” said McKenzie at the time.
In response, during the same month, the country’s biggest festivals came together to demand more clarity from him in an open letter.
The collective of South African arts festivals, which includes the Joy of Jazz and Suidoosterfees, expressed concern over McKenzie’s statement regarding the funding for festivals.
“We are not seeking confrontation, we wish to set the record straight and engage constructively with government about the future of our sector, particularly after receiving neither funding nor clarity about funding over the past year,” chairperson of the National Arts Festival Board Professor Siphiwo Mahala said in the statement responding to the minister.
ALSO READ: Gayton McKenzie calls for probe into festival funding, says it’s become ‘a form of entitlement’
The show goes on
Despite this back-and-forth, Newton said the NAF will go ahead from 26 June to 6 July 2026.
“Supported by our long-standing partners, the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Standard Bank and other partners who make the National Arts Festival possible,” she said.
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