11 Aug 2009 In May this year, budding young hip-hop poet Natasha Tafari attended a Hands On! Masks Off! Workshop, hosted by the National Arts Festival at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. There she was presented with the exciting prospect of travelling to Grahamstown to attend the “real thing” in July.

“We challenged participants in the Cape Town workshop to write a proposal requesting a funded travel experience to the Festival to participate in the 10 day Hands On! Masks Off! Experience,” said Festival Director Ismail Mahomed.

Tafari took up the challenge, and was subsequently awarded the opportunity to spend 10 days of all-expenses paid Amaz!ng in Grahamstown for the Festival this year.

“When I walked into the Monument (for the first time) I literally stepped back and gasped for a moment! The amount of posters and all the people made this festival a reality,” said Tafari. The National Arts Festival sponsored Tafari’s travel expenses and accommodation, and she also received a package including spending capital and per diem, tickets and the official programme. “I managed to attend 16 shows, including comedy, music, theatre, hip hop theatre, poetry and open mike sessions. I attended about eight workshops and attended about six cocktails as well,” said an overwhelmed Tafari.

As an emerging hip-hop artist, Tafari was very excited to have met representatives from the Brighton Hip-hop Festival through a contact she made with UK based organization, Urban Flow, at one of the workshops. “They expressed an interest in my Hip-hop theatre piece, Underneath the Poet Tree (A Classic Hip Hop Story) 2004. They mentioned that I could consider a talent exchange, which is very possible within the realms of Hip-hop, as it is global,” said Tafari, who also said that the learned a lot about networking from the Hands! On Masks off! Creative Cocktail evenings at the Festival. 

“Participating in this opportunity matured me,” said Tafari. “The staff who attended to this logistical conundrum of an event remained calm, patient and kind, especially Ismail Mahomed, who could still come to me during cocktails to warn me of a slippery patch on the floor where butter had fallen or look out for an open swinging door bumping me from behind. And imagine just bumping into the CEO of BASA Michelle Constant sitting on a grass patch, taking care of business,” said Tafari.

“BASA is committed to ensuring that arts sponsorship is a serious business,” said Michelle Constant, CEO of BASA. “I believe that the up-skilling and empowerment of artists is crucial in creating a sustainable arts environment,” said Constant.

“Grahamstown also presented me with the hard cold facts of capitalism in the workshop presented by Brooks Spector, bringing home to me that the revolution of the artist even lies within whom one approaches to fund ones creative endeavors,” said Tafari.  “I was left spinning in a beautiful vortex of dance, theatre, comedy, poetry, hip hop, philosophy, music, food, atmosphere, his/her-story, crafts and exhibitions,” she said. “Thank you for your concern and effort in investing time and energy into the education of arts.”

“Natasha Tafari is a new brand of young entrepreneurial arts practitioners who realises that survival in the arts sector is dependent on a good combination of passion, artistic integrity and business acumen,” said Mahomed. “She has shown a commitment to network with professionals who can enable her to find the kind of skills that she will require to grow in the arts sector. Natasha reinforces the perception that artists must be respected for being both contributors to the texture and economy of our societies.”

“She is testimony that learning is an investment for growth and opportunity,” said Mahomed.