Marlene le Roux
Reflecting on 2024 gives me great satisfaction that at Artscape we really practice what we preach - ensuring that the arts are thriving despite many challenges.
Referencing the rave reviews of the highly-acclaimed Pieter Toerien Productions musical My Fair Lady in association with Cape Town Opera, and Cape Town City Ballet’s The Nutcracker from respected theatre critics and audiences alike, together with the jam-packed recent Summer Season programme which included indigenous Xhosa sounds in Malta: The Journey of the Heart, Asian qawwali in The Sufi Caravan and of course the foot-tapping, toe stomping Boogie Nights, among others, to sold out audiences, as well as Santa’s Sleigh Bell Safari, and Zip Zap Circus’s A Piece of Us that brought so many visitors to our theatres, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the sheer magnitude of what it really takes to execute these world-class productions on our world-class stages.
The numbers for December 2024 to mid-January this year are already running at a staggering 80 000 patrons who have paid for a ticket to watch one or more of these amazing productions.
While rave reviews and staggering attendance numbers are music to our ears - there is, however, an even higher value to be gained from a ticket purchased by patrons: the value of job-creation and sustenance to a range of role-players who night after night ensure that your experience at Artscape is of the highest quality.
Providing pleasure and entertainment to hungry audiences for just one of the many productions we offer involves an integrated system of employees and specialists - from the executive cleaning services, catering services and bar tenders, contract workers, security guards, stage hands, set builders, dressers, wig makers, seamstresses, background crew, sound and lighting technicians, support crew, costume makers, project managers and front-of-house personnel to the artists, musicians, decision-makers, marketers, publicists and the executive team.
Without these productions many of our contract workers will be without work. It is a huge industry and our well-oiled machine at Artscape continues to create jobs for hundreds of people putting bread on the table, thereby maintaining a sustainable economic ecosystem that provides a huge economic injection in Cape Town.
Your ticket is therefore not only paying for your pleasure during the 3 hours or more per night that you spend in our spaces but your much-needed contribution also plays a vital role in the economic system of the arts, a role that also requires broad and sustained support from government, the economic sector and the public. While most businesses and institutions were closed for well-deserved festive holidays, the arts at Artscape have kept the economic wheel turning, along with other essential services during the Festive Season.
Furthermore, as a government institution, we are subject to strict audit regulations which our management team do not take lightly to ensure this cycle of job creation is sustained and protected.
We are extremely proud of the clean audit we received from the Auditor General for the 2023/2024 financial year. We are committed to maintaining this standard in the future and remaining true to our country’s constitution which compels us to build the nation, promote human rights, inclusivity, justice and equality as well as mainstream accessibility for people with different disabilities through our world-class sound system for the hearing impaired, world-class carpet system for the visually impaired, and world-class productions on our world-class stages in collaboration with our trusted partners.
If you’ve bought a ticket or more this past Festive Season and planning to do so in the future, receive my heartfelt thanks as we highly value your very important contribution toward sustaining world-class entertainment, but more importantly, job creation.
*Le Roux is the CEO of Artscape