.                           Image: NAC Logo      (Source: NAC) A NECESSARY STEP TOWARDS FAIRNESS AND TRANSPARENCY                   Image: NAC PESP 6 Statement       (Source: NAC) The recent statement by the National Arts Council (NAC) announcing the opening of the PESP 6 Appeal process is a welcomed development within the cultural and creative sector.  Most importantly, the confirmation that funding has been set aside specifically for the PESP 6 Appeal signals a recognition that errors, gaps, or misjudgements may have occurred during the initial adjudication process. Appeals are a critical mechanism in public funding systems. They provide practitioners and organisations with an opportunity to seek reconsideration, especially where they believe that applications were misunderstood, unfairly assessed, or administratively disadvantaged....

TUESDAY EDITION |  PROFILE/ INTERVIEW  WHY THE PERFORMERS’ PROTECTION BILL MUST BE SEPARATED — AND SIGNED NOW By Thami akaMbongo Manzana  | The Creative Passport  For years, South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) have been caught in a legislative stalemate. Two bills — the Performers’ Protection Bill and the Copyright Amendment Bill — have been treated as inseparable twins, debated together, delayed together, and ultimately stalled together. This approach has come at a cost — and that cost is borne most heavily by performers. It is time to say this clearly: The Performers’ Protection Bill must be separated from the Copyright Amendment Bill and signed into law immediately. Not tomorrow. Not after consensus on “fair use”. Now. Image: President Cyril Ramaphosa       (Source: www.gov.za) PARKING THE COPYRIGHT AMENDMENT BILL — FOR NOW Let us be clear from the outset: The Copyright Amendment Bill raises legitimate and complex conce...

  Image: Mandisi Sindo (Source: Mandisi Sindo) TUESDAY EDITION |  PROFILE/ INTERVIEW  “Your name shall be mentioned in the corridors of power.” - Dr Miz Mzwakhe Tancredi  Image: Dr. Miz Mzwakhe Tancredi  (Source: New Life Global Church) Why Mandisi “Dr Disi” Sindo, one may ask? The answer is perhaps best captured in words echoed by Dr. Miz Mzwakhe Tancredi: “Your name shall be mentioned in the corridors of power.” Mandisi “Dr Disi” Sindo represents a generation of cultural practitioners whose work speaks beyond stages and platforms — reaching into communities, institutions, and spaces where influence is shaped and decisions are made.  His journey, voice, and contribution continue to assert that culture is not peripheral, but central to how societies imagine themselves. In this conversation, The Creative Passport engages Mandisi “Dr Disi” Sindo not to mythologise, but to listen — to understand the work, the thinking, and the responsibility that comes wi...