WHAT: The 2024 National Arts Festival
WHERE: Makhanda, Eastern Cape
WHEN: June 20-30
The year 2024 is an auspicious one — politically and culturally — in South African history, as it commemorates not only 30 years of democracy but also 50 years of the National Arts Festival. Held annually in the Eastern Cape dorpie of Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), this multidisciplinary event is as well known for its kaleidoscopic programme as it is for coinciding with the Oos-Kaap's relentless winter. Known as South Africa’s longest-running arts festival, this annual cultural highlight is renowned for its diverse programme, which provides an inclusive platform for theatre (both physical and musical), dance, visual art, performance art, film, poetry, public art, illusion and magic, comedy, and music — with an emphasis on jazz. From music to magic, performance art to poetry, the Village Green to vino at the Rat & Parrot, celebrating half a century of the National Arts Festival in Makhanda is an essential for your 2024 cultural calendar. Tickets are available via the festival's website. (PS: These 10 days are the sole exception when you get to publicly and unironically don that K-Way puffer jacket of yours. That's how cold it is.)
WHAT: Time Out Market Winter Wine Festival
WHERE: The Studio at Time Out Market, Old Power Station Building, Dock Rd, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
WHEN: June 29
As notorious as the Mother City's is for a winter with rain, as reliable is the quality of the Western Cape's wyn! Featuring more than 150 wines cultivated at the province's finest wineries, Time Out Market's Winter Wine Festival will educate, entertain and enthral all oenophiles. Taking place at Cape Town's chic Time Out Studio, guests can look forward to tastings, immersive experiences and meeting the winemakers. Tickets for this day of vino sipping, appreciating and — naturally — purchasing, are available from R250 via Howler.
WHAT: Sedgefield Scarab Slow Food & Wine Festival
WHERE: Scarab Village, N2, The Island, Sedgefield
WHEN: June 26
With mosaic tortoises adorning the sidewalks, the Western Cape town of Sedgefield is taking its status as South Africa's first “slow town” to a culinary level. The values of community, an appreciation for the small things in life, eco-consciousness and supporting local practices will combine on Wednesday as Sedgefield celebrates its first Scarab Slow Food & Wine Festival. From vintage wines and spirits to slow food delicacies and live music, this fezzie — taking place at the dorpie's creative hub, Scarab Village — is a leisurely must. Tickets are available via Quicket from R230.
WHAT: Rob van Vuuren @ St Francis Brewery
WHERE: St Francis Brewery, 167 St Francis Dr, St Francis Bay
WHEN: June 26
Whether you know him as The Most Amazing Show's caravan-dwelling, sweatband-wearing, horseshoe-moustache-rocking Twakkie or the kombucha-chugging, chakra-aligning, downward-dogging Namaste Bae, Rob van Vuuren's name has become synonymous with personas and performances that will guarantee a lekker lag. Catch the funny man live as he sets the stage ablaze with comedy gold at his one-man show in St Francis on Wednesday. Tickets for this evening of Van Vuuren-waggishness are available from R170 via Quicket.
WHAT: Joburg Ballet Presents The Sleeping Beauty
WHERE: Joburg Theatre, 163 Civic Blvd, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
WHEN: June 28-July 7
Join Joburg Ballet's acclaimed danseuses and danseurs and visiting guest artists as they bring Tchaikovsky's balletic adaptation of the classic fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty to life. This production of the timeless tale of Princess Aurora who, cursed by the Wicked fairy Carabosse to prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep from which she is awoken 100 years later by the kiss of a handsome prince, is produced by former dancer at La Scala Ballet Sophie Sarrote and set to Tchaikovsky's enchantingly romantic music performed live by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Tickets are available from R240 via Webtickets: pirouette your way there today to secure your seat for this spectacular performance.
WHAT: The Slime Workshop — Bubble Slime!
WHERE: The Slime Workshop, Astor House, 19 Stirling Crescent, Durban North
WHEN: June 28
Looking for a fun holiday activity for your progeny? Let them stretch, twist and swirl some slime with The Slime Workshop's goo crew on Friday. Guided by the slime specialists at this popular kiddies party venue in Durban, your charge will be 2x250g-slimes and a 100ml slime activator richer when their hour of gunk-fun comes to an end. Slime drumming, bubble play (with the bubbles created by The Slime Workshop's unique bubble slime formula), pigment mixing and slime care also feature on the workshop's playful programme. Tickets for this slimetastic day are available from R200 via Quicket.
WHAT: Canapés and art walkabout
WHERE: August House, 76 End St, Doornfontein, Johannesburg
WHEN: June 29
Local art connoisseurs, neophytes and enthusiasts seeking the opportunity to meet visual artists and discuss their work need to look no further than the META Foundation's canapé lunch and walkabout with Nene Mahlangu and Lindo Zwane. The artists, whose studios are based at August House in Joburg's CBD, will dissect and discuss their respective solo-exhibitions. Mahlangu's “Where do I go when I want home?” explores the eternal quest for self-discovery and a place to call home, while Zwane's “Insizi Ye Bhodwe” examines the contrast in gender roles in informal trade, with an emphasis on the harsh realities of the working women at Kwa Mai Mai Market cooking over open fires. Tickets for this art (and food) fuelled afternoon are available via Quicket from R300.
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