Phatshoane Henney New Breed Art Competition 2016: Discovering a new breed of Free State artist

18 March 2016 590

This month saw the official launch of the Phatshoane Henney New Breed Art Competition, presented in association with Oliewenhuis Art Museum. This first-of-its-kind Free State visual arts competition is aimed at discovering new and emerging Free State-based artists, and to provide broad corporate and public exposure to showcase contemporary art from the province.

The competition is a natural extension of Phatshoane Henney Attorneys’ passion for creativity and challenging the traditional, which has enabled the firm to become known for being a new breed of law firm. This passion has also supported Phatshoane Henney Attorneys to search for and recognise creativity and excellence in other terrains.

“We believe that in art one has a medium which pushes boundaries and perceptions, and challenges us to evolve. Accordingly we have launched the Phatshoane Henney New Breed Art Competition to boldly state our primary intention of identifying talent and a new generation of artists, and remind us of the power of creativity,” says Sam Moleko, Director at Phatshoane Henney Attorneys.

A proud Free State firm, Phatshoane Henney Attorneys also values its roots and believes in celebrating the abundance of excellence forthcoming from the Province. “We are excited to, through this competition, provide a platform for Free State artists to exhibit their talent and in so doing help lay the foundation for a promising artistic career,” he adds.

A further distinguishing aspect to the competition is the integration of technology platforms and social media with the competition to increase accessibility and public exposure – making art an experience for everyone. The selected artists and their work will be showcased on the official art competition website (www.phinc.co.za/art) and shared via social media, enabling engagement from the public and, finally, nominations for the Public Choice Award, an innovative feature of the competition aimed at attracting broader public exposure of the competition and selected artists.

The competition is open to all South African artists that reside in or are primarily resident in the Free State, are 18 years or older and have not held a solo exhibition at a commercial gallery involving more than 20 works.

To provide interested artists with further information, a non-compulsory competition information session will be presented at 15:00 – 16:00 on Tuesday, 3 May 2016 at Oliewenhuis Art Museum. Thereafter entries are to be submitted from 5 to 11 September 2016.

After first round shortlisting, selected artists’ work will be exhibited at Oliewenhuis and also profiled on the website from 20 October 2016, after which an independent panel of judges will conduct a final round evaluation of the works. On 17 November the final prize giving will take place at a formal award function where R100 000 in prize money will be awarded to the best entries in the following categories:

First prize: R50 000

Runner-up prize: R20 000

2 Merit Award prizes of R10 000 each

1 Public Choice Award prize of R10 000

Competition winners and selected artists will be featured in Phatshoane Henney Attorneys monthly newsletters reaching South Africa’s top corporate, institutional and governmental clients for 12 months following the competition.

Competition winners and selected artists will also be featured in the 2017 Calendar of Phatshoane Henney Attorneys circulated to its top clients. Works of competition winners and selected artists will be exhibited for a period of 12 months in the Head Office building of Phatshoane Henney Attorneys providing exposure to the firm’s key clients.

To download the Entry Form, click here.

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