The early history of the National Arts Festival is also the early history of the 1820 Settlers' National Monument – this is according to Thelma Neville, a formidable woman who dedicated her life to building the imposing complex on Gunfire Hill.
The early history of the National Arts Festival is also the early history of the 1820 Settlers' National Monument – this is according to Thelma Neville, a formidable woman who dedicated her life to building the imposing complex on Gunfire Hill.
Neville was associated with the Monument project since its inception in 1955. As the chilly late-afternoon sunshine streams through the large windows of her living room, she travels back to that year.
She can see the massive square building from her comfortable red velvet armchair, and she is intimately acquainted with its different faces: the Monument in the cold morning light. The Monument in the dusky golden air of another brilliant Grahamstown sunset.
Tom Bowker, MP for Albany at the time, launched a crusade to honour the British pioneers with a national monument.
"We wanted to build a monument that would be a perpetual reminder, accessible and visible to all people," Neville explains.
"We knew right from the start: a monument which wouldn’t be used was unacceptable."
As public interest in the project grew, suggestions came rolling in. What form would a national monument take?
There was talk of building a shrine-like chapel, complete with a Memorial Hall.
English-speaking people shuddered at the idea of shrine. They wanted unity between people, but the Monument would work to make worthy aspects of British culture a source of national pride and ownership.
"They wanted a monument that would belong to all the people," explains Neville.
It was the Grahamstown Bishop, Selby Taylor, who opened the floodgates to fresh deliberation.
Inspired by the Shakespeare Festival he visited in London, he suggested the monument be built to become a festival venue.
This idea garnered support very quickly.
Guy Butler, the famous South African poet and writer, said that one of the most far-reaching contributions the Settlers brought to South Africa was the English language.
He suggested the Monument be designed, among other things, to be the main venue for an English Language Festival. The Monument Committee also recognised the Settler value of the democratic ideal.
"Why not make the Monument a conference centre to celebrate their belief in the practical value of discussion and debate?" Neville asks.
She and the rest of the Monument Committee were adamant: whatever was built would be the pride of the whole nation.
But despite their unswerving enthusiasm, they still needed something: money. Neville – by trade a journalist – was appointed as a liaison officer for the project.
She travelled across the world garnering support and funds. "I had to sell a Monument," she says, exasperated at the very memory.
"That was my job – I had to sell a Monument that hadn't been built yet!" She was very successful.
"All kinds of people came and gave money," she said. "Very soon the silence of the hill was shattered by the noise of the bulldozers tearing at the earth to start the foundation of the 1820 Settlers' National Monument."
It was opened by the State President Jim Fouche at 10.30am sharp on a cold Saturday morning.
"It was a lovely day," Neville reminisces. "Up at the Monument there was a wintry sky just shining and bringing warmth to the building and the grounds around it."
The inaugural festival of 1974 coincided with the grand opening and featured a two-week programme of drama and music.
The Monument – a venue for the biggest annual celebration of the arts in Africa – has certainly exceeded the committee's wildest expectations.
Neville feels that the Monument not only honours those English settlers who arrived on the continent so many centuries ago, but also contributes to society as a living monument which continues to grow and change with the people around it.
Fest celebrates all kinds of art – in all kinds of languages – and draws together people from all over the world under the yellowwood scaffolding of the Monument foyer.
Last year more than 200 000 people flocked to Grahamstown for the event. Neville agrees: it has long outgrown its original mandate of honouring the 1820 settlers.
"That’s a monument for all the people now," she says. "It has been for a long time."
Her eyes sparkle as she looks back on the opening night of that inaugural Festival in 1974.
The Monument was opened with a production of King Lear, and as she and Butler stood outside and looked up at the twinkling lights on top of the hill, he said to her: "We did it. We really did it."
