Brett Kebble's patronage recognised with an award
Brett Kebble, the controversial mining magnate and art patron, was recognised recently for his contribution to the development of the visual arts sector in South Africa by his patronage of The Brett Kebble Art Awards, the largest visual art award in the country.
At the seventh annual BASA (Business and Art South Africa)/ Business Day Awards, an event recognising the partnership between arts and business through honouring exceptional projects, Brett Kebble, together with MTN, topped fellow nominees Cell C, Truworths and SAMRO to walk away as joint winners in the category Single Project. This honours an outstanding sponsorship or a series of projects run by one organisation.
Kebble created the art awards in 2003 in his personal capacity, as a platform to give artists from various disciplines the opportunity to showcase and be recognised for their work on a scale never seen before in South Africa.
One of the prime objectives of the Award (as well as his sponsorship, in conjunction with Johannesburg Consolidated Investments, of a quarterly art supplement published in Business Day) is to highlight the investment potential of South African art, and thereby focus on the mutually beneficial opportunities that arts patronage can provide to both artists and investors.
Nicola Danby, CEO of BASA, stated that The Brett Kebble Art Awards are a shining example of how an effectively communicated sponsorship may bring real benefit to the arts, both by placing artists centre stage, and by properly rewarding them.
Says Danby, "We hope that the awards established by Brett Kebble will encourage greater meaningful engagement by South African companies - large and small, in city or country, town or township - with all the arts, in ways that offer mutual and sustainable benefit."
