VANSA conference in Cape Town
The Visual Arts Network of SA (VANSA) will be hosting the TRANSFORMATION | OPPORTUNITY | GROWTH national visual arts conference from February 8 - 11 at UCT's Hiddingh Campus, Orange Street, Cape Town.
The conference hopes to invite key visual arts practitioners - artists, gallerists, academics, educationalists, curators, critics, collectors, administrators and bureaucrats, amongst others - to discuss the state of visual arts since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. Speakers and guests will come from all nine provinces of the country and will include some international delegates. A special artists' workshop will run alongside the formal 'talkshop'. Throughout the conference there will be a host of optional social events, tours and presentations/displays including a special Art Night (from 6.30pm, February 10). The conference runs over three days and is followed on a fourth day by VANSA's first national AGM.
VANSA is an organisation established by and for South African artists and arts practitioners to represent and lobby for the interests of all active practitioners in the South African visual arts sector. Focused largely on issues of art and social development, VANSA foregrounds existing historical imbalances and deals with concerns around access, opportunities and coherence within the visual arts sector. Formed in 2003, it is an emerging national voluntary body that is establishing a broad membership base, which includes leading figures from the visual arts community nationally.
The 3 days of the conference cost R300 in total, or R150 for VANSA members. Bursaries are available for paid up VANSA members who cannot afford the conference fee. VANSA membership costs R50 for individuals and R200 for institutions.
The conference is supported by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), CAPE Africa Platform, The National Arts Council, Arts and Culture Trust, Business Arts SA, The British Council, Pro Helvetia, ArtThrob, Artists' Network (UK) and the Cape Town Partnership.
Cape Town 8 - 11 February 2006
For more information:
Tel: (021) 447 9108
Email: reception@merlefalkeninc.co.za
www.vansa.co.za
