The Department of Arts and Culture has renewed its contract with the National Arts Festival for the next three years‚ and it’s worth a cool R17 million. This is a R2 million increase from the previous contract‚ which ended last year.The CEO of the festival‚ Tony Lankester‚ presented an overview of the year’s programme at a press conference earlier this week. “They [the Department of Arts and Culture] recognise this event as a national project and we are very grateful for their financial support that we get from them and we will continue to enjoy that certainly into 2018‚” he said.The National Lotteries Commission has also contributed R10 million to the festival this year‚ which will be used to support the Fringe. Even though the going gets tough for the independent Fringe productions‚ this is where audiences can unearth some “genuine theatrical gems."Deputy Minister of the Department of Arts and Culture‚ Rejoice Mabudafhasi‚ delivered the keynote address to the media. “The National Arts Festival is one of many annual festivals supported through the MGE strategy across the country‚” she said. Explaining why the DAC has committed to a relationship with festival organisers‚ she discussed Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE)‚ a strategy implemented by the Department of Arts and Culture to sustain the arts and culture industry in South Africa.Other festivals include the Mangaung Cultural Festival (MACUFE) in the Free State‚ the Cape Town Jazz Festival‚ the Diamonds and Dorings Festival in the Northern Cape‚ the Marula Festival in Limpopo and the Buyela’khaya Festival in the Eastern Cape.Lankester claims that corporate sponsorship is hard to obtain. Only 33% of the NAF’s budget is comprised of sponsorships from corporate companies and the rest comes from public sponsors such as the government and the lottery. “It’s a tough economic environment and the arts will always need public support‚” he says.The festival’s annual budget is in the region of R30 million and the festival depends greatly on the government sponsorship. 70% of the budget is poured directly into the main programme and an estimated R5 million goes to Fringe artists in terms of box office receipts.The R17 million will be spent over 3 years with R7 million being allocated for the first year and R5 million being allocated for each of the following years.This article first appeared on Cue Media...