Montagu Music, Art, Dance and Drama Festival | Western Cape Government

Montagu Music, Art, Dance and Drama Festival

The small town of Montagu is buzzing with excitement this year as it will be celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the Montagu National Youth Arts Festival, now known as the Montagu Music Art Dance and Drama (M.M.A.D.D) Festival. The festival kicks off at 6pm on Wednesday 12 August and will wrap-up at 5pm on Saturday 22 August. 

What you can look forward to

The festival programme has something in store for everyone – young and old. Some of the highlights include:
•    an art exhibition at the Montagu Art Gallery which opens the festival on Wednesday 12 August at 6pm,
•    a Music and Dance Programme from 13 to 15 August, 
•    a Dance and Music Prize Giving on 15 August and ending-off with 
•    a Drama Programme from 19 to 22 August, and
•    an Oscars Night on Saturday 22 August.

Festival categories

DramaThe various categories for this year’s festival will showcase talent from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, George and Mossel Bay.  These categories are:
•    music,
•    art,
•    photography,
•    dance,
•    literature,
•    poetry,
•    drama, and
•    puppetry.

Every year, the art competition has a different theme and this year the theme is “Heritage” which includes sub-themes of heritage sites, foods, personalities, rites of passage, or just simply something that invokes the theme within the visual artist.

The winners of the different categories will receive an invitation to present or perform at the Heita Hello Heritage event which will take place during the Montagu Makiti Family Heritage Festival in September 2015.

Judging panel

The judges for this year’s different categories are:
•    Marion Morrell (Art),
•    Dr Loftus Heunis (Music ),
•    Emile Minnie (Music),
•    Godfrey Johnson (Drama),
•    Karen Jeynes  (Drama) ,
•    Heather Mollentze (Drama), 
•    Laresa Perlman  (Photography),
•    Anita de Kok (Skrywersburo)  (Literature), 
•    Brigitte Reeve Taylor  (Dance), and 
•    Allison Foat  (Dance)

Background of the festival

In 1995, teachers from Montagu High School, along with the local tourism office and other local volunteers, started a festival for the youth of the community to showcase their talents.

The festival has been appreciated by the community and has grown tremendously over the past 20 years. When the current festival director, Helen Gooderson took over the handling of the festival it was renamed the Montagu Music Art Dance and Drama (M.M.A.D.D) Festival.

Hosted by the Rural Arts Development Foundation (RAD), M.M.A.D.D offers an excellent opportunity for talented youth in the rural communities to have a performance platform and gives developing talent the chance to network with other artists of all levels and professionals from all over the province.

DrummerTicket Prices

Daily tickets are available at the door and for more information regarding ticket prices you can call Helen Gooderson on 082 886 8023.

Stay up to date

You can follow the festival on Facebook or visit their website for more details.


Further enquiries:

Cell: 082 886 8023 or 
Email:  youthartsdev@gmail.com

The content on this page was last updated on 12 August 2015