The 24th Annual Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards are open for entry to all arts-business partnerships – this includes businesses sponsoring/partnering with arts events, projects or organisations in South Africa, as well as businesses sponsoring/partnering with South African and/or African arts events across borders.
Sponsoring Agency: Hollard
Type of Fund: Challenges, Competitions or Prizes
Deadline Available: Available
Deadline Date (mm/dd/yyyy): 06/04/2021
Size of the Fund: Not Available
The 24th Annual Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards are open for entry to all arts-business partnerships – this includes businesses sponsoring/partnering with arts events, projects or organisations in South Africa, as well as businesses sponsoring/partnering with South African and/or African arts events across borders.
Partnerships between arts organisations and support provided by non-profits may also be considered, provided their support falls outside of their basic mandate.
Eligibility Criteria
• There is no entry fee.
• Entries must be submitted via the online entry platform – no hard copy or email entries will be processed.
• No incomplete entries will be processed.
• The BASA Awards do not work on an external nominations process. One of the partners needs to enter to nominate their partnership, and while the entry may be completed by either party, it must be endorsed by both partners.
• The sponsorship/partnership must have taken place between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020; this includes long-term or ongoing sponsorships current during that period.
• Where sponsorship of a project, event or organisation has been shared, all sponsoring companies are eligible for entry.
• A separate entry should be submitted for each sponsoring company, and the differences between each sponsor/partner must be clear in terms of the partnership relationship and objectives.
• Projects may be entered on a year-on-year basis, as part of BASA’s sustainability strategy, regardless of prior wins. In assessing these entries, judges will consider the evolution and growth of the partnership from previous years.
• Eligible creative mediums include visual arts, dance, theatre, physical performance, music, architecture, fashion, design, and all forms of creativity appropriate to the understanding of arts and culture.
• There are no limitations regarding the arts partner or creative medium – whether an individual, a small or large organisation/project, or an emerging or established organisation/project, the project impact and achievement of objectives will be considered by judges in relation to size, experience and the sponsorship value.
• Entrants are required to motivate for the entry’s alignment to the selected category.
• Please note that the categories open for entry are not restricted to any particular creative medium (i.e. design projects, theatre projects, etc.), but rather apply to the nature of the partnership or sponsorship relationship and its impact or objectives.
• While there is a category specifically for long-term relationships, such partnerships may enter into any other category where alignment can be motivated.
• Similarly, while there is a category focusing on recognising smaller businesses for sponsoring the arts, they are not limited to this category alone, and such partnerships may enter into any other category where alignment can be motivated.
• A sponsorship programme/project/partnership may be entered into a maximum of two categories.
• BASA may use information and images (excluding confidential financial information) for publicity purposes.
• By submitting an entry, you the entrant agree to abide by the terms, conditions, rules and regulations governing the Awards programme, and declare that the information provided is true and correct.
BASA Awards Judging Rules and Criteria
• All BASA Awards judges are appointed by BASA and are professionals with expertise in business and/or arts. As per BASA’s Awards Judging Policy, judges serve a three-year term, after which time their position becomes available for rotation.
• The primary concern of the BASA Awards’ judging panel is to evaluate each nomination by reference to its level of success and creativity in achieving both the business and arts organisations’ objectives, and its fit within the category.
All arrangements are correct at the time of going to press; however, the BASA Awards judging panel reserves the right to:
• Decide the judging criteria and their respective importance.
• Shift entries into different categories, should they be deemed more appropriate than the category in which the entry was originally submitted. This will only be done with the consent of the entrant.
• Add or withdraw award categories at their discretion, and choose not to grant an award in any category where the highest standards of excellence are not met.
For quick reference, the judging criteria are as follows:
• Overall project: How strong is the project? Who are the beneficiaries and how did it impact them? How does the impact compare against the size of the project, arts organisation and sponsorship value? Did the project speak to broader society? Does the arts organisation/project demonstrate a variety of income streams and the ability to generate its own income (as opposed to relying solely on support from sponsors, grants, etc.)? Would the arts activity have been able to develop without business support and, if so, what particular benefits did the sponsorship bring? Is there a good regional balance across the judges’ choice?
• Partnership: Was the partnership a valuable one? Was the partnership purely financial? Is the sponsorship imaginative and/or innovative? The majority of sponsorships are CSI or marketing related, but BASA advocates for more diverse sponsorship strategies – how innovative was the partnership when it comes to the sponsorship strategy and objectives? The most popular art forms for sponsors are music, festivals and visual arts; how creative has the sponsor been in choosing their art form? Is the company likely to continue in arts sponsorship, either with the current arts partner, or a different one, in future?
• Balance and equity: Is there a balance between the size of the business and the creative project/organisation they have sponsored? Was the partnership mutually beneficial for both the business as well as the arts organisation/project? In terms of return on investment or return on objective, what are the benefits to the sponsor (these might not be exclusively commercial)? Does this seem a sound investment for the business? Is the arts organisation truly benefiting from the sponsorship (again, these benefits may not be exclusively financial)?
• Visibility and reputation: What was the impact of the promotion and publicity strategy, and how does this weigh up against organisational/project capacity? Did the partnership/project present a good reputation during and after the event/project? Did the reputation of the sponsor and/or the arts organisation/project improve directly as a result of its association with the project?
• Alignment: How well does the partnership align with the category?
More information at: https://awards.basa.co.za/
Eligible Countries:
South Africa
