The annual National Arts Festival, held every July in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, is always a major highlight on South Africa's cultural calendar, celebrating drama, dance, physical theatre, comedy, jazz and so much more.

In 2020 the festival went virtual for the first time and due to the latest lockdown restrictions, in July 2021 the festival will again take place online with dozens of performances available to stream throughout the month via the official website nationalartsfestival.co.za.

One of the biggest highlights of any trip to the festival is always the Fringe festival performances. These tend to be an eclectic mix of comedy, live music, experimental theatre and performance art. At the Fringe you are always guaranteed to experience something very different that you've never seen before. This year the VFringe online festival has a wealth of interesting and unusual performances that you can stream on-demand, costing from just R35 a pop.

There's also a programme of online talks and workshops to look forward to covering topics ranging from poetry and scriptwriting to dry point printmaking - check out the webinar programme here.

And finally the retail aspects of the annual festival have also successfully been taken online. Every year in conjunction with the festival, the town hosts a craft fair on the village green where local makers and artisans have an opportunity to promote their wares. Jewellery, ceramics, footwear, beadwork, clothing accessories and so much more can now be browsed and bought online at the Virtual Green edition of the Village Green craft fair. A great way to support micro-businesses and entrepreneurs through this incredibly challenging time.

TICKETING
Pay on-demand prices to watch specific shows online, or buy a festival pass that gives you access to almost 100 shows for R1,000. Check out all the festival pass and ticketing options online here.