Tension is boiling over at the National Arts Council (NAC) after furious artists were forced to spend the night outside its offices.
This follows the Council’s decision to postpone the announcement of the 2025 Annual Project Funding results.
The funding call opened in July, and results were expected to drop on Friday.
But on Thursday, the NAC dropped a bombshell issuing a last-minute statement saying results would only come out on October 31.
By Friday morning, enraged artists had stormed the NAC offices demanding answers; only to find the doors locked.
That is when the sit-in began, with some vowing not to leave until the Council came clean.
Delay explained
On Saturday, the NAC issued another statement explaining reasons for the delay.
The statement reads in part: “The NAC received a total of 3,763 applications for the annual project funding call across various disciplines. 2,278 of these applications are being reviewed by adjudication panels consisting of independent experts. Each panel comprises four members who are not full-time employees of the NAC.
“As this is the first funding cycle for the newly-appointed adjudicators, they requested additional time to familiarise themselves with the NAC’s adjudication framework, evaluation criteria, and internal systems, given the substantial number of applications.
“This additional time ensures that the adjudication process is conducted with due diligence, ethical consideration, and consistency in scoring, thereby upholding the principles of fairness and good governance. The NAC has noted the concerns raised by the sector regarding the postponement and has resolved to adopt a staggered release approach to ensure timely feedback to applicants while maintaining the integrity of the process.
“Under this approach, the Visual Arts outcomes will be released on Monday, 20 October 2025, followed by Craft, Literature, Dance and Theatre on Thursday, 23 October 2025, and concluding with Music and Multidiscipline on Friday, 31 October 2025, which received the highest number of applications.”
Cold reception
The statement has been met with mixed feelings.
Grey Mafumbu said: “As Visual Artists, we have long felt sidelined and overlooked within the broader creative funding landscape. However, today we stand with deep appreciation and gratitude to all the artists and organizations who took a bold stand at the National Arts Council (NAC) on the 17th of October demanding transparency, fairness, and the immediate release of the annual funding outcomes.
“We are truly encouraged by the NAC’s new arrangement to issue the Visual Arts outcomes on the 20th of October, a step that gives us hope and allows many of us to begin implementing our projects, which require proper planning, preparation, and execution.
“This development is not just a win for visual creatives, it is a victory for the entire arts community, proving once again that collective action and persistence bring change.”
Khoza Mphathi said: “So the NAC received the creatives’ applications in June/July, shoved them in a box, [and] only in September they started the appointment process. What an embarrassment they are.”
Art activist and Opera singer Sbongile Mngoma said she is not budging, until every result is out: “When we came in yesterday, I didn’t think we’d still be here today. The CEO was ‘on the way’ all day but never showed up. Then they said results would come in batches.
“Well, I’m not easily swayed. I’m not leaving until they release all the results. This means I’ll be sleeping at the NAC entrance for the next two weeks. I’m not leaving until they fix themselves.”
Questions were sent to the NAC but they had not responded by the time of publishing.
