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Announcement of 2019 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards

The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) is proud to announce that it will once again be hosting and presenting the annual national Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards (TMFAA). This is the 32nd year that the TMFAA will be held. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious arts awards in the country.

In 2009, the CoE moved to have the Awards renamed after the acclaimed resistance artist who gave a voice to the nation through his talent during the struggle for liberation. According to Thamsanqa "Thami" Mnyele: "Art must become a process - a living, growing thing that people can relate, identify with, be part of, understand; not a mysterious world a universe apart from them."

It is that ideal which inspired the CoE to initiate a competition of this nature that serves as a platform where artists are encouraged to transcend limitations, reconfigure and manipulate contemporary cultural, social and political signs. CoE is the only Metropolitan Municipality that hosts and sponsors an Art Competition of this magnitude.

The competition caters for artists of all ages, from all over South Africa, producing various media of art works. Merit awards are presented to winners in each of these categories, plus the overall first prize and a special Ekurhuleni prize - this is awarded to the best work submitted by an artist who hails from this region. A total amount of R300 000,00 prize money is awarded. There is an additional prize for one of the Merit Awards Winners which is the "Lizamore and associates Mentorship Programme and Solo Exhibition".

Entry fee: R50 per artwork entered.

The following prizes will be awarded:

• First Prize: R 100 000.00
• Ekurhuleni Prize: R 65 000.00
• Multi & New Media Merit Award: R 30 000.00
• Painting Merit Award: R 30 000.00
• Art on Paper Merit Award: R 30 000.00
• Sculpture Merit Award: R 30 000.00
• Honorable Mention: R 15 000.00
• Lizamore & Associates Mentorship Programme Solo Exhibition

Each year artists from across the country are invited to enter art works who are adjudicated by an independent and representative team of adjudicators, representative in terms of their art fields as well as in terms of the population. The adjudicators select a body of work to form the art exhibition and from that they choose the prize winners.

The adjudicators for the 2019 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards competition are: Mlamuli E. Zulu, Nkululeko Khumalo, Molemo Moiloa Gapare, Colbert Mashile and Gordon Froud.

All artworks must be ready and suitable for exhibition. The judges will select an exhibition of the best works. The works of art must have been completed in the 12 months prior to the competition.

The dates of the 2019 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards submission of art works are as follows:

• Works may be entered on the 20, 21 and 22 August 2019 from 09h00 - 19h00 at the Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre, Mooifontein Road, Birchleigh North Kempton Park.
• Boksburg Library Auditorium - Trichardt Street, Boksburg Civic Centre, on 19 August 2019 from 09:00 - 16:00.
• Satellite entry points are available at the Springs Art Gallery - Corner 5th & 6th Avenue between the Library and the Community Hall, on 20 - 21 August 2019 from 09:00 - 19:00.
• Rhoo Hlatswayo Art Centre, 20074 Hlakwana St, Daveyton, Benoni, 20 August 2019 from 09:00 - 16:00.
• Katlehong Art Centre - Sontonga Road 21 August 2019 from 09:00 - 16:00.

The opening function of the Exhibition and Prize Giving Ceremony will take place on Saturday 28 September 2019 at 18:00 at the Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre in Mooifontein Road, Birchleigh North, Kempton Park.

The exhibition will run from 29 September - 27 October 2019 from 10:00 - 17:00.

For more information contact Thabo Sekoaila at thabo.sekoaila@ekurhuleni.gov.za or (011) 999 8726.

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