The ACT 25 Million Reasons to Give campaign will host a series of events, talks and tours for investors and the general public to participate in during its 25thanniversary celebrations.
The former Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology established the trust to secure financial and other resources for arts, culture and creativity in 1994. South Africa's first democratically-elected president, Nelson Mandela, endorsed the trust and served as its patron-in-chief for his term in office.
Within the first five years of its establishment, ACT’s founding trustees contributed a total of R5m. The sum became the financial base for further generation and disbursement of funding towards various arts and culture projects across South Africa.
"After 25 years of existence and having made the kind of impact that we as an independent organisation have, we can proudly say 'Of course, we have more than 25 million stories we can tell'" ACT CEO @MTDesando at the 25 Million Reasons to Give campaign launch #25MRTG pic.twitter.com/E62ZNwkmjA
— Arts & Culture Trust (@actorgza) May 15, 2019
ACT’s 25 Million Reasons to Give campaign is focussed on raising investment to be disbursed across five key pillars established by the organisation. These pillars are the ACT DALRO Nedbank Scholarships – aimed at learners in grade 12 and individuals under the age of 25; ACT Development Grants – disbursed to emerging or mid-level artists and organisations as well as postgraduate students; ACT Building Blocks – designed to build capacity through skills transfer; ACT Conference – an annual conference designed to inspire change; and the ACT Awards – a celebration of excellence in South African arts, culture and creative sector.
Over the past 24 years, ACT has disbursed more than R20m to artists and organisations working across the artistic practices of music, literature, theatre, visual arts and dance. The organisation’s total investment over the period increases to R45m when other development programmes which invest in the sector indirectly, such as the ACT Building Blocks, are included in the calculation.
“Looking back, we are proud of the sustained impact ACT has had over the past 24 years,” says ACT CEO Marcus Desando. “And now we are looking to significantly bolster our fundraising efforts. To this end, it is the vision of our board of trustees to ramp up our investment endeavours to support these initiatives to a much greater extent. And what better time than now, as part of our 25th anniversary celebrations. If R5m had such an enormous impact, imagine what a further R25 million could do?”
