SU Wordfest will paint Stellenbosch green this year

The Stellenbosch University Woordfees (Wordfest) will paint Stellenbosch green this year! The theme for this year is ‘Green’ and will play on not only a greater environmental awareness but also on the word that stays green for all times.

Welcome at the Wordfest! Mr Bun Booyens, Editor of Die Burger, Prof Dorothea van Zyl, Director of the Wordfest, Dr Yvonne Muthien, Executive Director of Sanlam Group Services and Sandra Prinsloo.

The 13th Wordfest, to be held this year from March 2 to 11, was launched on Monday (January 16, 2012) with a gala event at the Lourensford Wine Estate.

Prof Dorothea van Zyl, Director of the SU Wordfest, welcomed writers, artists, musicians and other guests from the education, media and business sectors, telling them that the 2011 Wordfest was the most successful festival to date, with a growth of more than 50% in ticket sales. This year the festival booklet will be thicker with more than 250 items, she added.

In 2011, the SU Wordfest won the kykNET Fiesta popularity prize as the most popular arts festival in South Africa. The winner of this prize is chosen by the public via SMS.

Dr Ludolph Botha, Senior Director: Student and Academic Support, who represented the Rector, Prof Russel Botman, at the event, said SU is tremendously proud of what the Wordfest and the Words Open Worlds (WOW) project have accomplished in the past 13 years. The creation of five permanent posts for the festival is a sign of growth and the confidence that the University has in this festival.

“The Word Festival’s theme is very much in line with SU’s focus areas, namely sustainability, as well as the fact that we want to make our campus better and greener with more bicycles and pedestrians and fewer vehicles.”

 Dr Johan van Zyl, Sanlam Group CEO, said that the company has a commitment of five years with the festival, but will be even more involved this year. The green theme of the festival also speaks to Sanlam’s green aspirations with regards to its business, he said. Sanlam is a main sponsor of the musical productions at this year’s festival.

The 2012 Wordfest poster

Mr Bun Booyens, Editor of Die Burger, also spoke at the event and said it was a privilege to be involved with a festival that is doing so well. Green is the issue of our time, he added. “Afrikaans is a green language that has no equal in the world.”

In his message, Mr Japie Gouws, Managing Director of the ATKV group, praised the WOW project and said the ATKV is amazed at what the WOW project has achieved. The project makes a big impact on South Africa and slots in well with projects of the ATKV that increasingly focus on education. He added that only 3 000 of the approximately 27 000 public schools in the country function well.

Brandon October and Ukrainian singer, Antonina Darienko, were the guest artists of the evening. They sang parts of their production Dream Woman which can be seën at Spier on 3 March.

•  For more information visit www.woordfees.co.za. Tickets are available through Computicket.