Gauteng Opera hit a tragic note this month, announcing that it will shut down after its final public performance today after nearly two decades on South Africa's arts landscape.
The news was followed by the announcement that the Dance Umbrella - another legend of South Africa's arts scene - was also set to close its doors.
The demise of these companies is the consequence of a shift in corporate and philanthropic generosity towards the arts, a challenge that, like South Africa's economy, the sector has struggled to recover from in the decade since the global economic crash.
Arnold Cloete, chief operating officer of Gauteng Opera, said this week: "I can pinpoint for you when it really started going bad, back in 2008, with the huge world economic crash."
Cloete said corporate work dropped almost immediately.
"We used to do sit-down dinners in the Sandton Convention Centre for 500 people and suddenly they would book you for a cocktail for 50 people standing. It changed so quickly."
A snapshot of corporate social investment compiled by Trialogue in its 2016 handbook showed that corporate spending on the performing arts has plummeted. Spending dropped from 40% in 2015 to 34% in 2016. Education, social and community development and health have overtaken the arts as the most supported causes. Food security, agriculture, housing and living conditions and disaster relief are also receiving corporate generosity.
But business confidence is rising and may lead to improved spending. The Rand Merchant Bank/Bureau for Economic Research business confidence index released on Wednesday leapt 11 points from the last quarter of 2017 to 45 in the first quarter of 2018, the highest jump since 1975...