There is an awkward dissonance in the ways that different members of the Makana community interact with Festival.
There is an awkward dissonance in the ways that different members of the Makana community interact with Festival.
Some residents grin and bear it, some think it is a wonderful opportunity to make money, while others bask in the wonder of an incredible cultural experience. The problem is that an exceedingly large part of our population simply feels marginalised by the whole event.
Moving the Village Green from the central part of town to the Rhodes Great Field in 2009 did not help make township residents feel included in the Festival. But local authorities and Festival organisers could help alleviate feelings of alienation by sponsoring more events in the less privileged parts of the municipality.
It would also help if Town Hall made a greater effort to actually welcome visitors to the Festival. Until Wednesday, there was nothing on the Makana website indicating that we actually want people to come here, and even now there is only a brief report on the Mayor’s speech.
Why do councillors not fight each other for the privilege of personally shaking hands with Festinos at the entrance to shows? Visitors quite often feel that they are merely tolerated in Grahamstown because they bring in extra money.
Muggers come into town from all parts of the region and the only people available to protect Festinos from the bands of muggers are unhappy policemen, who have either been called away from other duties, or who have to work overtime.
We were informed of an incident on Wednesday when guests arriving from Johannesburg were stopped at a roadblock on the N2 highway by a traffic officer. While the driver was showing her licence to the officer, a Home Affairs official, without any greeting or asking permission, yanked open the back door and leaned deep into the car, demanding to know whether the occupants were foreigners, because they "looked Norwegian”.
What a terrible foretaste of our Festival. We need to show genuine warmth toward the people who come from far and wide to spend time as our guests at the greatest Arts Festival on the continent. We also need to think beyond Festival, about ways of leveraging the event to transform Grahamstown into a permanent cultural capital of South Africa.
In the meantime, we just have to cross our fingers and hope that the municipality can keep the lights and the water on for the next 10 days.
