One Playwright’s Leap from Policy to Practice with Mike Van Graan

How to make a living in and through theatre…that is the holy grail for theatre-makers the world over, and particularly in a country like South Africa.  We have passion, dedication, talent, skills and we do not at all mind hard work and long hours – all ingredients for success we are told.  And while we may achieve some recognition for our work through decent reviews, the odd award and even a commission or two, these do not translate into a decent, sustainable livelihood.  Is it true then, that Mrs Worthington – or Mrs Khumalo – shouldn’t put their daughters on the stage?  Or that writers should always have another source of regular income to support their creative work? Or are there possibilities for living off one’s talents and passions as theatre writers in particular?  Join Mike van Graan as he talks about his current journey.

Webinar details

Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Time: 18:00 – 19:00 SAST

Location: Online (Zoom link sent by 12pm, 14 May 2025 – Please add communications@writersguildsa.org to your contact list)

NB: Registration is essential.WGSA members may attend free of charge. We also invite members of our sister organisations Safrea and DFA to attend free of charge. Non-members pay ZAR 75.00

Meet your Speaker

Mike van Graan is a South African playwright and producer based in Cape Town.

Most recently, he served as the Coordinator of the Sustaining Theatre and Dance (STAND) Foundation, an initiative to support the South African dance and theatre sector through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

He has extensive experience in policy formulation and advocacy and in building artists’ networks, both in South Africa and across the African continent.  Mike was the founding Secretary General of Arterial Network, a pan-African organisation advocating for the cultural dimension of development, human rights and democracy.  He served on the expert facility of UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions from 2011-2018. He was the head writer of the team that produced Breathing New Vision into Theatre and Dance: National Theatre and Dance Policy, commissioned by South Africa’s Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in 2021/22.

After the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, he was appointed as a Special Advisor to the minister responsible for arts and culture where he played an influential role in helping to develop post-apartheid cultural policies.

As a playwright with 40 plays under his belt, he is regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost contemporary playwrights having garnered numerous awards and nominations for his work.

He is the 2018 recipient of the Swedish Hiroshima Prize for Peace and Culture, the same year that he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Pretoria in recognition of his work as a playwright, and as a cultural activist.

For more information, see http://mikevangraan.co.za