According to Basa CEO, Ashraf Johaardien: “There is real power that comes from deep collaboration between the right partners, and the purpose of the Supporting Grants’ platform is to ignite partnerships that are able to effect meaningful social change. As the South African government contemplates risk-adjusted approaches to resuming economic activity, it seems an opportune time to support and amplify business and arts partnerships that are exploring digital frontiers or innovating in virtual spaces.”
Basa CEO Ashraf Johaardien. Photo by Jan Potgieter
Johaardien explains why the Basa Supporting Grants platform offers a slightly different lens to conventional funding in that the focus is on amplifying and extending existing partnerships between arts and businesses: “The public-private partnership that led to the formation of Basa in 1997 was a key part of South Africa’s strategy to secure greater involvement in as well as support for the arts from businesses in South Africa. To this end, the Supporting Grants programme was designed to assist in activating sponsorship for a cross-section of arts projects in different regions of the country, by providing financial support to a project that is in an already existing business and arts relationship.” He adds that, while the team is encouraging applications between digital collaborators, all planned business and arts partnerships are eligible for consideration.
The application process for Supporting Grants has now been simplified, with interested parties merely submitting a formal letter of interest as a first step, and Basa then inviting eligible applicants to complete an online application. There is no deadline, and applications are considered throughout the year. Visit http://tiny.cc/basaSG for criteria and application guidelines or email enquiries to az.oc.asab@ohpis.
Basa Supporting Grants are made possible with the generous support from the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
About Basa
Constituted in terms of the Companies Act, Basa is registered as a public benefit organisation (PBO) and is accountable to its stakeholders. The Basa board of directors is chaired by Charmaine Soobramoney, with deputy chair Mandie van der Spuy, and KojoBaffoe, Kathy Berman, Devi Sankaree Govender, Ashraf Johaardien (CEO), Hilton Lawler, Andre Le Roux, Khanyi Mamba, ZingisaMotloba, Dr Yacoob Omar and Mirna Wessels.
For more information, please visit www.basa.co.za.
