About Us

The National Arts and Culture Development Foundation (NACDF) is a registered non-profit organization (NPO Number: 105-159) which is also incorporated in terms of Section 21 of the Companies Act (CIPC Registration: 2009/023730/08). The organization was founded by Thabo Konopi (a progressive entrepreneur and arts practitioner) in 2009 to address the need to improve human resource skills, economic development and business education levels within South African creative industries.

 

Our vision is to embark on innovative educational programmes that seek to build sustainable capacity, encourage excellence and advance business expertise for underprivileged South African artists. The primary intention is to empower artists by building their business knowledge base necessary to protect their rights and economic interests in their respective industries.

 

We also undertake to develop and coordinate the implementation of accessible artist development interventions aimed at reducing artist unemployment and that promote social cohesion. One of these interventions is an annual national arts and culture event aimed at assisting artists across various disciplines to showcase and market their works. Thereby laying the foundations that encourage excellence in artistic effort, skills development and future economic empowerment.

 

Our other fundamental economic development objective is to identify, promote and facilitate broad based export opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs and companies within the South African creative sector. This is in an effort to introduce, encourage and advance international trade within this sector, which will assist in creating a platform for local products to participate in other markets internationally. This task will further enhance our South African economic development and preservation of our cultural heritage.