Japanese grant for State Theatre
Richard Mantu
26 November 2004
The State Theatre in Pretoria stands to become one of the most technically advanced theatres in the country after it received a R2.54-million grant from Japan on Wednesday.
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan accepted the grant-in-aid on behalf of the State Theatre from Japanese Ambassador to South Africa Toshinori Shigeie in Pretoria.
The grant is the fourth that Japan has made to the country's arts and culture industry, after grants made to the National Video and Sound Archives, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, and Robben Island Museum in Cape Town.
The grant will enable the State Theatre to upgrade its main hall, instal a multi-channel mixing desk, loudspeaker clusters, amplifiers and equalisers, microphones and cordless communication systems.
Valerie Matlou, chief director for international relations in the Department of Arts and Culture, said the grant would enable the theatre to upgrade its technical equipment for
better quality productions.
The State Theatre's deputy CEO, Aubrey Sekhabi, said the upgrade would enable the theatre to become competitive as it entered the era of trying to attract an integrated audience.
"We are in good shape", Sekhabi said. "In the past three years we have transformed into programming that is diverse, and now we just need to sustain that growth and build on getting audiences to the theatre."
Ambassador Shigeie said the grant would ensure that the theatre also provided training and unearthed young artists.
"The State Theatre will boast the very latest in technical equipment, thereby placing it ahead of all other theatres in South Africa", the ambassador said. "The theatre also places great emphasis on training and facilitating upcoming artists.
"We hope this equipment will be used fully and assist in further developing the operation of the theatre."
Source: BuaNews
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