The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

for ''

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hard veld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...

National Arts Festival'' and usually abbreviated to ''KKNK'') is an Afrikaans language arts festival that takes place yearly in the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n town of

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865– ...

. The festival includes both the

visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (th ...

and the performing arts and is officially recognized by the South African government as a national arts festival. Based on the number of visitors, it is also the largest South African arts festival. The first festival took place in 1994 and was the idea of a businessman from Oudtshoorn, Nic Barrow, and a former Public Relations Manager for the South African publishing firm

Naspers Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...

, Andrew Marais. Annually the KKNK attracts more than 1,000 artists performing or exhibiting in more than 200 productions and exhibitions over eight days; usually at the end of March or the beginning of April. The festival has come to play a central role in Afrikaans stage productions - new productions are usually first staged at the KKNK and are then performed throughout the rest of South Africa during the rest of the year. Economically the KKNK has been a source of growth for the town and its surrounding region, with many private individuals and institutions benefitting from renting out accommodation, halls and grounds during the festival.

References

External links

KKNK Official Website
Arts festivals in South Africa {{southAfrica-stub

See also

References

External links