Social Development Through Arts And Culture
Charlene Truter
When Natalia approached me to give an account of my relationship to the Applauz Arts Initiative I immediately had two concerns. Firstly, how do you summarize the work of a woman who tirelessly works to, not only create opportunities for young artists, but also equip them to make good use of it, all in one and a half pages? Secondly, will I meet the deadline? I didn’t.
But hopefully the following lines made it to the printers, even if by the skin of their commas and full-stops, and you are reading them between the covers and not on the back sleeve. Because there is one thing you never ever do with Antie Nattie. You are never late. Not because she will scream at you at the top of her well-developed lungs, but because you will just feel rotten for doing so.
Reason being that she leads by example. She doesn’t tell you what to do. She shows you how to be the consummate professional. I suspect she might not be so amused at being singled out like this. Afterall, the trademark of the Applauz Arts Initiative is the network of skilled people whom she has assembled around her over the last few years. People who are as selfless and passionate as she is in her dedication to youth development.
I had the privilege of working with Antie Nattie on the Songstar Fairhills Competition in Rawsonville, Western Cape, in 2009. Like so many South Africans, I grew up with the glitzing, styled image of Natalia da Rocha, ruling the cabaret stage with her formidable voice. So a little trepidation and starstruckness was allowed on my part when we met for the first
time in 2007 on a shoot for the Afrikaans lifestyle programme Pasella (SABC2). She invited me to be a judge for the final of the first Songstar Competition with students from Northlink College, and when I later got involved with the farming communities of a Fairtrade Wine Initiative in Rawsonville as youth mentor, I was looking for a life skills development program that would be something other than the usual weekend bootcamp. I called in Antie Nattie.
Rawsonville, like so much of rural South Africa, is battling social ills like alcohol abuse and poverty, the isolation often magnifying the existing needs. Through Fairtrade many benefits like healthcare and education have been plowed back into community. But in addition to this we needed a partner that could speak to the youth in a language they would be drawn to, the language of showbiz. A partner that could show them they needn’t remain isolated from opportunity just because they were born in a rural area. And quite frankly, we wanted to give the town something to talk about.
Above all, what made Applauz Arts Initiave the ideal and in fact, the only partner for this venture, was that it does not only focus on producing professional artist who are on time, can draw-up their own contracts, knows how to interact with the media, treat their craft with respect and go grafting when they need to, but that they are delivering self-assured young men and women to the world that are an asset to civil society. Because, there is no one as dangerous as those who believe they have no options in life, nothing to give and nothing to loose. In Antie Nattie’s school, it didn’t matter whether you became the world’s next singing sensation. It only mattered that you gave your all, and that you grew as a person in your understanding of your individual worth. That was exactly what we needed for this community.
Antie Nattie in turn called in the help of the young artist who have been through her Applauz school of performing arts and who’ve strut their stuff on the stage with her. She also pulled in her equally talented daughters, Sacha and Talia, as songwriter and vocal coach respectively, as well as students who partook in the Northlink Songstar. The objective was to put on a professional show in Rawsonville with the participants after just six weeks of intensive training.
Besides the usual challenges of budget and time constraints, one of the biggest uphill battles were convincing people to enter. When we decided to open-up the competition to include the nearby town of Worcester, this created a very interesting dynamic we didn’t bargain on. The group was challenged to go beyond the borders of their prejudices to become a team. It didn’t matter which farm you came from or that you came from a farm, whether you came from a “good” part of town or a “bad” part of town. You could come from the moon for all it mattered. Now you were thrown in the trenches together and had to fight your way through. Together. The Fairhills Community Hall which was used for most of the rehearsals rocked under dancing feet and sweaty bodies of all shapes and sizes, faces drawn with concentration.
For the last three week of rehearsals I was away on an overseas trip for the Fairtrade project and only arrived on the evening prior to the performance. The guesthouse where they were staying was littered with props, costumes, gear and three half-dead but cheerful bodies. The show of course was a success. The kids shone like the stars they are, impressing nay-sayers, stingy sponsors, and parents. I only later heard the real story of what happened in those last three weeks. The drama with budgets, domestic troubles knocking some kids out of the game, the personal drama in the lives of the organizing team, the small town small mindedness. Because whenever you’d asked Antie Nattie anything, the reassurance always came that: “Ons is op die bol, lovey.”
Whenever overseas clients of the wine project visited the daycare centers build through their support, they’re treated to a heartwarming rendition of the Fairhills song, written as part of the Songstar competition. The toddlers mostly make up their own words to the recorded voices of the Fairhills Songstars: “We’ll stand together rain or shine, like mountains stand the test of time. . . through the power of love.” A song that would not be possible without the inspired work of the Applauz Arts Initiative.
Now that deserves applauzing.