Artistic Director,  

National Arts Festival, South Africa

Rucera Seethal is artistic director of the multi-disciplinary National Arts Festival, South Africa since 2020. She has been programme manager at the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia Johannesburg for six years, responsible for the performing arts portfolio across the Southern African region, and for co-developing and co-adjudicating its Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation regional grant programme. Between 2004 and 2011, she was artistic director and production manager at Chimurenga, the award-winning arts, culture and politics magazine. She has sat on several national and international adjudication panels, programme selection teams and webinars. Three current projects include: Listening Bodies, a podcast series on African dance and performance artists, seeking to enable a more sensitive and informed reception to performance productions from Africa and disseminating practice reference to African practitioners; Charter, a values-based framework of collective accountability, transparency and solidarity aimed at creating safer, more enabling conditions for women and LGBTIQ+ people in the South African arts sector; and Portals Next, an open-ended enquiry into transcontinental curation, presentation and making situated in independent artist-led entities. More generally, she is interested in futuring, feminist and funga perspectives, and currently lives in Johannesburg.

Photo (c) Fidel Ntone Edjabe