BASA’s ‘Debut Online’ Nurtures Real Skills for Arts Entrepreneurs.
Partnered by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) has successfully taken 120 new and emerging creatives to market with the launch of DEBUT ONLINE (https://debut.basa.co.za). The programme extends the support BASA is providing to each participant in this innovative, entrepreneurial programme by both amplifying their footprint and enabling them to reach a wider audience. The online showcase profiles the participants and is also an opportunity for visitors to the site to vote for their favourite ‘artrepeneur’.
The portal profiles emerging creatives from all nine provinces and introduces their projects and businesses. Visitors are able to immerse themselves in the depth and diversity of what our Debut participants have to offer, and to make their mark by casting their vote on the artistic offerings that speak to them. According to Masechaba Khumalo (spokesperson for the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture), “This showcase is a celebration of our country’s nascent talent that can be found within every town, village, and city. It stands as an exhortation to those invested in the Creative Economy, both the internal players and the peripheral figures with an interest in its upliftment and success, to band together.”
BASA Head of Programmes, Boitumelo ‘Tumy’ Motsoatsoe invites South Africa to join this vibrant new wave of talent spearheading a new vision in the Creative Economy. “These are the change makers we have been looking for, catalysts and champions who will be contributing to the economy and changing the narrative about the creative sector through this deliberate showcase that aims to emphasize that the arts are both valuable and viable.”BASA’s Debut team has nurtured a clear commitment to enterprise development, empowering each participant’s endeavour by equipping them with the wherewithal to monetise their work through the microsite’s e-commerce facility and encouraging visitors to purchase. To power sales seamlessly, point-of-sale payments provider Yoco partnered with BASA and made available a card machine to each participant to expedite sales.
So says Yoco’s head of brand Mmaphuthi Morule, “We are firmly focused on making it simple for creative entrepreneurs to thrive, have confidence to transact and to contributeto the broader economy. BASA’s Debut Online is another vehicle to create access for more businesses to participate.” Play your part by visiting https://debut.basa.co.za/. In the words of BASA Chairperson, Zingisa Motloba, “The future sustainability of not just this country, but this continent, needs all of us to play our part.”
More about BASA:
Launched in July 2020 as a joint initiative between the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) and Business and Arts South Africa NPC (BASA), the second iteration of the Debut programme sets out to transfer enterprise development skills to a carefully selected cohort of artists across all nine South African provinces. The programme aims to develop these artists to become resourceful, agile, and sustainable ‘artpreneurs’ who can make a profitable livelihood from their artistic talent. For more information visit
