Grant support for digital collaborators

Sne Mdiya
Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) encourages projects between creatives and businesses, with a focus on
online collaborations, to submit expressions of interest to be considered for grant support.
BASA CEO Ashraf Johaardien says there is real power that comes from deep collaboration between the right
partners.
“The purpose of the Supporting Grants’ platform is to ignite partnerships that are able to effect meaningful social
change. As government contemplates risk-adjusted approaches to resuming economic activity, it seems an
opportune time to support and amplify business and arts partnerships that are exploring digital frontiers or
innovating in virtual spaces.”
Johaardien says the BASA Supporting Grants platform offers a slightly different lens to conventional funding in
that the focus is on amplifying and extending existing partnerships between arts and businesses.
“The public-private partnership that led to the formation of BASA in 1997 was a key part of South Africa’s
strategy to secure greater involvement as well as support for the arts from businesses. The Supporting Grants
programme was designed to assist in activating sponsorship for a cross-section of arts projects in different regions,
by providing financial support to a project that is in an already existing business and arts relationship.”
He adds that while the team is encouraging applications between digital collaborators, all planned business and
arts partnerships are eligible for consideration.
The application process for Supporting Grants has now been simplified, with interested parties merely submitting
a formal letter of interest as a first step, and BASA then inviting eligible applicants to complete an online
application. There is no deadline, and applications are considered throughout the year.
Visit http://tiny.cc/basaSG for criteria and application guidelines, or e-mail enquiries to sipho@basa.co.za.