As the Standard Bank Young Artist Awards celebrate an impressive 40-year milestone, the National Arts Festival announced the competition’s six young artists who will showcase their talent at the 51st instalment of the event.
The 2025 award winners — Modise Sekgothe (poetry), Nyakallo Maleke (visual arts), Siyasanga Charles (jzz), Asanda Ruda (dance), Muneyi (music), and Calvin Ratladi (theatre) — will receive financial support, mentorship as well as a chance to showcase their work at the festival.
The six artists will perform alongside more than 180 directors, actors, dancers, playwrights, musicians, poets and visual artists at the Makhanda festival from June 26 to July 6.
NAF chief executive Monica Newton said the festival was honoured to support the talented young artists’ journey to Makhanda and beyond.
“The awards continue to ignite the future of SA arts by celebrating visionary talent and inspiring new creative possibilities.
“We have been proud to stand alongside our partner Standard Bank for 40 years, identifying and showcasing the artists who are shaping SA’s cultural landscape,” Newton said.
Ratladi, a multilingual drama department lecturer at the University of Pretoria, made his television debut as Goloza, the son of Zwide kaLanga, in the acclaimed series Shaka iLembe.
The scriptwriter, who was born with kyphoscoliosis, which is an abnormal curvature of the spine, is also completing a master’s degree in performance-making.
Ratladi has previously collaborated with the NAF on a script development project, the Distell Playwright Competition, and has conducted extensive fieldwork for the SA State Theatre’s Community Arts Dramaturgy Outreach Programme.
As a director, Ratladi has garnered numerous accolades, including two Standard Bank Ovation Awards, the 2019 ImpACT Award for Young Professionals (theatre), and the 2019 Lesedi Spirit of Courage Naledi Theatre Award.
In 2022, he was honoured with the Outstanding Person with Disability Contributor Award at the SA Film and Television Awards.
Tenor and bass trombonist, composer and arranger Charles believes her love of music came from her late mother and grandfather, who were self-taught jazz musicians who played the trumpet and saxophone.
Currently based in New York City, Charles enrolled for a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz trombone performance at the University of Cape Town, which she finished in 2012, followed by her honours cum laude in 2013.
In 2022, she was given the opportunity of a lifetime to study for her jazz master’s in music at The Juilliard School, graduating magna cum laude in 2024.
Charles has worked across the globe with many greats including the late Hugh Masekela, Grammy Award-winning musicians Ulysses Owens Jr and Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers Alumni: Geoffrey Keezer.
While these awards honour individual achievements, they also reflect Standard Bank’s long-standing commitment to the arts.
Standard Bank Group head of sponsorship Bonga Sebesho said the bank continued to play a vital role in preserving, celebrating and expanding SA’s creative legacy.
“We are proud to support this new generation of visionaries as they continue to shape the future of our cultural landscape and ensure that our creative heritage thrives for decades to come,” Sebesho said.
The Herald
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