Mbali Mbatha
After steering SA’s flagship arts event through one of its most turbulent periods, National Arts Festival (NAF) chief executive Monica Newton is taking her final bow.
The 2026 edition of the festival in Makhanda marks the end of her tenure — a journey that began just months before the pandemic upended the global arts industry and forced an unprecedented reimagining of the festival.
When she first embarked on the journey of steering the festival in January 2020, Newton could not have foreseen that the world would shut down with the Covid-19 lockdown just a few months later.
Newton said what she would miss most was the people who continued to show up year after year, describing them as true believers in the cause.
The support of NAF technical director Nicci Spalding when she pitched the idea of a virtual festival, seeing audience members leaving the theatre looking visibly moved, and “eavesdropping” on the audience’s post-show debriefs, were some of the moments Newton would hold dear for the rest of her life.
The pressure of event curation, however, is something the outgoing chief executive is relieved to be leaving behind.
Newton’s love affair with the arts showpiece dates back to her childhood, when she first attended the festival.
This carried on into adulthood.
Working for a nonprofit was uncharted territory for the former head of Gauteng’s department of sport, arts and culture.
“It was my first time moving from Gauteng by myself, so my understanding of the NAF had previously been from the perspective of an audience member,” Newton said.
“So, it was three major changes — the move, Covid-19, and very quickly having to meet a new team.”
It was a stressful time as, from 2020 to 2022, Newton liaised with the festival team virtually, without physically meeting some of them.
She remembers planning for a 50% capacity festival in 2022, only for the lockdown restrictions to be completely lifted a week before it got under way.
However, the next hurdle came when SA first encountered Stage 6 load-shedding the same year.
“When the power went off it would take a few minutes for the generator to kick in.
“But the audiences were amazing; they used their cellphones to light the stage.
“People were amazing at adapting,” she said.
AFDA students loved the use of cellphones and candles as alternative lighting — so much so that they adapted it into their productions.
Newton said finances was the biggest challenge she had to navigate as the festival’s chief executive, which often extended to other factors such as fuel prices, the failure of the low-cost airlines in about 2023, and the closure of some accommodation facilities.
“Another thing is scale. There were 700-odd shows in 2019, which we found unsustainable post-Covid.
“We now take into account what the city can handle, and what is comfortable for our team, because bigger is not always better.”
Newton said her experience with the festival also taught her to be adaptable as a leader.
She had to let go of the government mentality of saying something could not be done because there was no budget and instead learn to make do with what was available.
Newton also spoke proudly about the festival’s resilience over the past 52 years.
She said she would continue to return to Makhanda to enjoy the festivities and to see how the festival evolved beyond her tenure.
Asked whether she had ever been genuinely concerned about the number of visitors declining, Newton said it was something she feared each year.
However, she attributed this to her own personality and not the “naysayers”.
It also helped that she completely trusted the artistic team’s abilities.
She challenged people not to set expectations of what the National Arts Festival should be, but rather to go and experience it for themselves.
“Maybe you have personally outgrown the festival, and it is no longer relevant to you, but that does not make it irrelevant.
“It cannot be what it was, but it will continue to be.”
Newton found it interesting that the people making up the festival audiences in recent years seemed to be younger.
She said the team was therefore cognisant of the need to curate a versatile programme that addressed SA’s latest challenges.
Of the festival team, Newton said she had never met people more capable, competent and passionate, adding that the festival would not be possible without them.
Her parting advice to the next person in the hot seat was to get lots of sleep, wear flat shoes and enjoy the festival.
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