Young talent is plentiful in South Africa but when talent, opportunity and creative vision collide, young artists emerge who set the benchmark for their contemporaries and change the narrative of South African culture. As we celebrate Youth Month in 2025, the National Arts Festival will celebrate the Standard Bank Young Artists – a unique and gifted group who join 156 artists recognised by this prestigious award.
Six extraordinary creators will be shaking up Makhanda this year as they debut brand new works for the National Arts Festival from 26 June to 6 July as the 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist cohort . Asanda Ruda (Dance), Siya Charles (Jazz), Muneyi (Music), Calvin Ratladi (Theatre), Modise Sekgothe (Poetry) and Nyakallo Maleke (Visual Art) will be taking up space and drawing in the visitors and arts community who flock to the annual arts event.
For 40 years, Standard Bank and the National Arts Festival have evolved this partnership into one of the most coveted awards for artists in South Africa, rewarding a legacy of creative luminaries who have shaped two generations.
What to Expect from the 2025 Standard Bank Young Artists at the National Arts Festival
Former Pina Bausch Foundation member, Asanda Ruda (Dance) presents KEMET – Black Lands / Alkamal Walkamal Almutlaq – Completeness and Absolute Wholeness. This solo dance work premieres at the Festival from 30 June to 2 July, exploring the complex themes of generational alienation, political defiance and personal emancipation. Ruda challenges conformity and asserts an audacious, self-defined identity for her SBYA signature performance.
Standard Bank Young Artist Jazz winner Siya Charles is joined by The Siya Charles Sextet on 5 July – taking us on a journey through Siya’s musical influences, and celebrating her life and creative calling as a trombonist. No stranger to the Festival, Siya has a long history with the jazz stages of Makhanda, her return as a Standard Bank Young Artist is a defining moment for this internationally acclaimed musician and she will also join the National Youth Jazz Festival, of which she has been a part, at DSG on 4 July
Inspired by his community upbringing, a love for language, vulnerability, human behavior and personal experiences, Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, Muneyi comes to the Festival with two distinct performances, blending this moment of celebration with personal history and deep connection. MUNEYI: THE BEGINNING is a big concert which pays tribute to his Makhulu (Grandmother), it weaves together work from his debut album Makhulu and unreleased pieces from upcoming projects. The ten-track musical performance will feature storytelling, video interludes and soundscapes. His second performance is a limited seating, intimate and acoustic offering; Sip and Cry is a soft space to feel deeply and drink slowly, to let the music hold us and let the tears remind us we’re still alive. Catch Muneyi live at the festival on 2 and 3 July.
Directed by the 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre, Calvin Ratladi, Breakfast with Mugabe offers a critical look into the fractured psyche of a leader grappling with his past. What begins as a professional meeting soon escalates into a tense battle of wills, where power is weaponised, truth slips through the cracks, and the ghosts of history refuse to stay buried. Ratladi’s Standard Bank Young Artist play will run from 3 to 6 July at the Festival with support from The Market Theatre and Festival Enterprise Catalyst project.
Only the second artist to be awarded for poetry, 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist, Modise Sekgothe, examines boyhood and fatherless households in his National Arts Festival work Gabo Legwala. “Gabo Legwala” is derived from a colloquial SeTswana proverb: “Gabo legwala a gollewe,” which directly translates as: “there is no crying at the coward’s home”. Borrowing from 2020 SBYA Jefferson Tshabalala’s description of his own SBYA work, Gabo Leqwala is a “memoir disguised as a poem, masquerading as a play”.
Staged from 27 to 29 June, this poetic theatre exploration follows the young Modise Sekgothe, known then as “Ndish”, through his formative years growing up in Soweto. The work assesses the rites of passage involved in the life of a young South African man growing up without a father figure.
2025 Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Arts, Nyakallo Maleke, presents To teach in ways that teach us to care for the soul; a call towards joy and liberation. Expressed through Nyakallo’s drawing practice, the work is embodied, playful, and intuitive — speaking, breathing, thinking, dreaming, walking, writing and being — as we are invited to return to self. Nyakallo’s playful handling of materials and expressive drawings are bound to captivate National Arts Festival visitors. The exhibition runs throughout the Festival, with artist-hosted walkabouts on 27 and 28 June and 5 July.
By presenting these pivotal works in a career-defining moment, this June will see these young artists get their chance to step onto the Standard Bank Young Artist stage alongside alumni such as Gregory Maqoma, William Kentridge, Sibongile Khumalo, Sello Maake Ka-Ncube, Chuma Sopotela, Mary Sibande, Koleka Patuma and Mohau Modisakeng. More than an award — it’s a launchpad into the canon of South African creative excellence. And visitors to this year’s National Arts Festival will be there to witness the moment.
