By Bongani Majola
A BLACK empowerment consortium has been selected as the city's partner to host and manage the newly branded Johannesburg Arts Alive festival for the next three years.
Zanusi Communications, an events management company with a professional events management component, a communications and marketing arm as well as a creative artist sourcing entity, was chosen out of 41 tender submissions that poured in when the city called for proposals for management of the festival, at the beginning of the year.
The city's festival project manager, Enrico Fourie, said the consortium was chosen because of its "combined strength" and a "good record of having hosted some of the world's biggest international events".
No stranger to major events, the consortium, made up of In Touch Productions and Zeezee Promotions, has organised, among other events, the World Summit in Joburg, the International Conference on Racism in Durban, the All Africa Kora Music Awards, as well as concerts with international stars including Whitney Houston, Al Jereau and Kenny Latimore.
Fourie said the city was impressed with the consortium's capacity for events management, its marketing and branding expertise, and the expertise for sourcing artists.
"We think that our association with Zanusi Communications will add value to the festival, particularly the consortium's knowledge of and links in the arts industry," Fourie said.
The Arts Alive festival, an annual event that takes place during the month of September, has been running for 11 years, with the City of Johannesburg as the main sponsor, host and key stakeholder.
Despite a high profile of international artists who have been brought to perform during the festival, including kwasa-kwasa king Kanda Bongoman and France-based Congolese jazz artist Mano Dibanngo, the event has experienced a downward trend in the last few years.
In its report to the Mayoral Committee last year, the city's Arts, Culture and Heritage Services Department acknowledged that it could not possibly run the annual Arts Alive festival single-handedly and that it was decided the event had to be handed back to professional organisations, as the city did not have the capacity to manage the festival.
