Arts Fest to help Kurland kids
At the end of the month, art lovers will once more have the opportunity to enjoy the finer things in life and do so for a worthy cause at the same time.
The Plett Performing Arts Festival has provided this opportunity year after year and 2020 will be no different.
The festival is back again with a captivating programme of popular and classical performers to raise funds for the Kids of Kurland project.
The aim of the festival, over and above providing entertainment for locals and visitors, is to raise funds for the project.
The organisation was established in 2001 after critical needs, especially among children, in the informal settlement of Kurland were identified.
Due to the remoteness of the village, there is a high incidence of unemployment which has subsequently led to issues with alcoholism, HIV and domestic violence. The area also has a critical shortage of teachers.
The aim of the organisation is to help the children of this community and through fundraising over the years have been able to employ teachers and a social worker at the local school. Over and above this, the organisation also presents life skill education to the local youth, including functional behaviour, coping skills, child safety, and Aids education.
This year the festival kicks off on 22 February and will run until 29 February.
The programme will start with an evening of Celtic music by Cape Town-based acoustic folk music trio, Jenny and the Jameses. The trio includes Jennifer Eaves on vocals and guitar, James Hall on violin and vocals and multi-instrumentalist James Harvey on accordion and vocals. The band has performed not only on local stages but also internationally and were even invited to perform as the opening act on the Netherlands leg of Johnny Clegg’s world tour.
The next day Coda Africa, one of South Africa’s most popular fusion bands, take to the stage.
On 28 February multi-award winning performer Daniel Mpilo Richards will share a collection of mostly satirical sketches about contemporary South Africa. Richards will be taking a break from his film studies in Britain to perform at the festival with sketches from State Fracture (which was awarded the Standard Bank Ovation Award for outstanding performance) and Land Acts (which won him the Naledi Theatre Award for best performance in a solo production to Quantitative Teasing which pokes fun, provokes and entertains about a range of themes that tends to cause South Africans anxiety and irritation.
Following last year’s success the Vumani Choral Project will be back and promise to enchant festinos with performances of well-known operatic arias on 29 February.
After capacity-filled runs in Sedgefield and Knysna last year, Shakespeare Abridged will bring comedy to the Shakespearean era. All 37 of Shakespeare’s plays are contained in the one “riotous romp” and will entertain theatre lovers on 7 March.
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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News