Mdantsane artist scoops top cash prize at awards
Dyala’s arts centre gets a boost with achievement and flies E Cape flag high
Mdantsane artist Cinga Dyala recently represented the province at the Business and Arts South Africa Awards where she scooped a R50,000 prize to help her advance poetry, storytelling and promoting arts at the Mdantsane Arts Centre.
The event was held in Johannesburg on Friday and was hosted by Business and Arts South Africa, in partnership with the department of arts & culture and the lottery.
Dyala is the founder of World of Art Movement under her Cinga Entertainment and Events (Pty)Ltd company.
“We have run programmes from Mdantsane Arts Centre, opposite Mdantsane library in Highway and we work with children from different high schools around Mdantsane. These include Ulwazi High School, Mzomhle High School and Khulani High Commercial School.
“We are very versatile. There are poets, actors, musicians and story-tellers, hence the name ‘World of Art’. We are running a child development programme called Iingcambu Zempumelelo Creative Arts and it is through this programme that we decided to create a platform for children from different walks of life to embrace the arts.”
The Inkcubeko Yomntwana Arts Festival is hosted in the same space. More than 50 children participated in the festival last year and it is hoped to increase the numbers this year, although funding has been limited.
Dyala said her drama society had about 30 children last year doing different forms of art.
“In 2018 we, as Cinga Entertainment and Events, were selected to be in the top 25 out of more than 3,000 applicants from the Business and Arts South Africa Debut Programme. “We were given assignment after assignment, and that is when people were eliminated.
“Again, we made it to the top 10, which meant we were given a catalyst grant from Business and Arts South Africa, to turn our ideas into production.
“With the money, we made all the basic preparations, such as venue and sound system hiring [for a three-day event] including the operational budget. Buffalo City Municipality supported us by catering for all our participants. We made all the necessary preparations that cater for children, such as the Cinga ‘Panda Mascot’.” Dyala said in October 2018, Business and Arts South Africa called her, as the World of Art representative, to pitch for the grand prize – the Top Achiever Award – hosted in Port Elizabeth. All delegates were given a chance to pitch for the award.
They informed us that they were going to host a grand graduation and award ceremony in Johannesburg and they invited us.
“Here, our organisation won the Top Achiever Award with prize money of R50,000. I was representing, not only our organisation, but the whole province. “We are planning on making sure that we use these funds as a seed to harvest more from our projects.
“We have already started preparing for this year's Inkcubeko Yomntwana Arts Festival, which will be held from July 26 to 28...
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