On Sunday, 13 September 2020, the UJ Arts & Culture division within the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) won two awards at the 2020 Naledi Theatre Awards. The online event awarded creatives whose productions were staged in 2019.

UJ Arts & Culture scooped awards for Best Theatre Set Design for their production, Metamorphosis staged in 2019 at the UJ Arts Centre, as well as an award for Best Lighting Design/Animations by Oliver Hauser also for Metamorphosis. Founded in 2004, the Naledi Theatre Awards is recognised as the premier awards event on the Gauteng Theatre Calendar.

“Winning these prestigious awards is testament to the value of the interdisciplinary practice and we are tremendously proud of the FADA students who have risen to the challenge so well,” says Pieter Jacobs Head of UJ Arts & Culture.

The FADA Interdisciplinary Theatre Programme has become the flagship of the faculty and strives towards building unique and increasingly important skills required for successful collaboration both in the arts and broader professional fields. Also flying the UJ flag high at the Naledi Theatre Awards was UJ Arts Academy alumnus, Zimkhita Nyoka, who took home Best Support/Featured Performance in the play Female for her performance as Thozama in the State Theatre’s production XOVA.

UJ Arts & Culture is located at the university’s Kingsway and Bunting Road campuses in Auckland Park, and produces and presents world-class student and professional arts programmes. Students, alumni and staff make up the bulk of their audiences, but the centre is also open to the general public.

The UJ Arts & Culture centre boasts three formal interdisciplinary art venues, as well as a number of informal venues across UJ campuses. Promoting the work of Pan-African artists, local and abroad, this platform is vital to keeping the spirit of art alive in the city.