Keeping live music alive in southern Africa
“The Embassy’s collaboration with Concerts SA to date has made some remarkable achievements in supporting exciting music across genres and, even more, in taking that music to places and audiences who might not, otherwise, have had the chance to be inspired by it.”
Work opportunities for SA professionals
Concerts supported
Running for 10 years
We’ve supported over 4000 concerts in over 1000 venues reaching more than 1 million audience members in 11 SADC countries. Concerts SA incentivised over 400 projects, leveraging more than 200 artist-driven partnerships.
What is Concerts SA?
Concerts SA is a decade long, multi-award winning (two BASA awards) project that aims to foster and empower vibrant live music circuits and grow dedicated audiences in South Africa and the southern African region. This innovative project started in 2013, supported by the Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria and the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), and is currently managed by IKS Cultural Consulting.
This supports qualifying venues and promoters through subsidies to host concerts in improved professional conditions, while ensuring fair compensation to musicians and technical personnel. It further aims to foster and empower vibrant live music circuits and grow dedicated audiences, while assisting artists by encouraging new music circuits for established and emerging artists.
This programme was initiated in 2013 to enable South African musicians to undertake live tours, building circuits nationally, and in other SADC countries.
The Fund started in November 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic as a pivot to digital. It focuses on subsidising artists to host concerts and engage with live performances on streaming platforms. This addressed innovation and new technologies and created a platform for artists to bolster their income and potentially reach a diversified global audience.
The programme encourages appreciation for live music, with concerts and workshop at primary and secondary schools. It allows learners to experience music instruments in a professional setting, and exposes children in under-privileged communities to traditional and indigenous music instruments, encouraging participative learning.
Research informs and underpins the implementation of the programme and contributes to the body of knowledge and raw data available on the South African music sector. This is supported by a collaborative collective of independent experts from the arts, culture and heritage sectors, and draws on a network of leading consultants in the creative industries to propose and implement successful strategies and programmes across the African continent.
Playing a pivotal role, this is embedded in our broader programme approach and continues to make an important contribution to the effectiveness of our programme. Engagement takes place with all key organisations and initiatives in South Africa, as well as broadening out to various countries in African continent and Europe.
Who Benefits?
What The Music Industry Thinks
Gavin Minter
"Myself, as a promoter, have been involved with your company and its funders for the past 3 years. Real Wired Music who work in the Cape Town region, have utilised at least 13 different venues over the past years.
We have booked in the excess of 160 musicians who have all graced our stages and supported the industry."
David B. Coplan, Ph.D.
"I have been involved in and seen at first hand Mr. Le Roux’s work as an arts activist, project organiser, and arts management executive for thirty-five years. His work at Samro Foundation, Moshito, AIRCO, Samex, the Department of Arts and Culture and elsewhere on boards and institutions is widely known both in South Africa and without exaggeration, around the world. It is hard to imagine what the state of our creative industries and artists would be like without Mr. Le Roux."
Brett Pyper, Ph.D.
"CSA’s support made it possible for us to pay honoraria to the professional musicians who participated in the Cosmology concert at the Wits Theatre on 30 October 2020 at a highly precarious time. Moreover, the research dimension of the project went beyond the concert itself. Our social partners from community-based jazz appreciation societies in and around Tshwane were so inspired by the event that they formed a new network called the Cosmopolitan Collective in order to further develop the collaboration that Concerts SA had helped us initiate. "
Eddie K. Hatitye
"MIAF has benefitted from a longstanding relationship with Andre Le Roux of IKS Cultural Consulting. His expertise and experience have been an invaluable asset in guiding the MIAF toward its vision. We are confident that he and his team are some of the best arts professionals South Africa has to offer, and applaud their commitment and passion for a better arts sector in South Africa. "
Ndaxola Koko Samuel Nkalashe
"The association that Jazz in the Native Yards has with IKSAfrica.com also gives us the gravitas that we need to be taken seriously in the jazz promotion space and also cements the trust we enjoy with many out-of-town and international artists traveling to SA to play jazz."
Mark Rosin
"I am both impressed and proud of SAMRO’s contributions and our association with Concerts
SA. More than 70% of all CSA grant recipients were SAMRO members and the project has made considerable inroads to helping the live music sector improve its levels of professionalism, compliance, and resilience. SAMRO money was used to fund only SAMRO members, while the Norwegian funding was used to facilitate a broader music community."
Niki Sondlo
"I Simnikiwe Niki Sondlo, Owner of Niki’s Oasis Jazz Restaurant in Newtown, recommend the support of any kind to the Concerts SA project which is managed by IKS Cultural Consulting and supported by the Norwegian Embassy and SAMRO."
"Concerts SA is a nationwide live music support program whose focus is to promote and develop the live music scene, educate, and develop skills of musicians and promoters. The project has mentored many young South African musicians who have become confident and..."
Gjermund Sæther
"Dynamite comes in small packages but has a massive impact. The same has been true of Concerts SA (CSA), which in 2023 will celebrate ten years of Norwegian and SAMRO investment in southern African live music. "
Sibusile Xaba
"This letter serves as a declaration that Concerts SA has been supporting U – the Space live music series from 2018. Our partnership with CSA has been a great contribution to not only us as an Art’s venue but has also provided a consistent platform that caters for the many live music lovers/followers in the City of Tshwane."
Unathi Lutshaba
"SACO has had the pleasure of working with IKS Cultural Consulting over the past years. During that time we have collaborated on the following research projects:
Impact Analysis - Live Music and its Venues and the South African economy during COVID-19 (2020)
Impact and implications of Master KG’s song, Jerusalema, for advancing international exposure to South African cultural and creative offerings. (2021) (This report presently embargoed due to the song’s legal disputes)"
Marlyn Ntsele
"We are so grateful to Concerts SA for providing us with the opportunity to produce over 50 activations in schools, and over 150 live music concerts and pre-recorded broadcasts. "
"The project has been instrumental in the growth of the KwaZulu-Natal music industry, and for that, we are incredibly thankful."
Kesivan Naidoo
"The importance of Concerts SA for the South African music scene cannot be stressed enough. The opportunities they have offered throughout many years have been vital for me to develop and share my music as a drummer, composer and founder of the Jazz Club Straight No Chaser in Cape Town."
Mr. Mamou DAFFE
"On behalf of the Board of Directors and the team of the African Culture Fund (ACF), I am pleased to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for facilitating the ACF's mission during its field visit and exchange meeting with artists and cultural actors in South Africa. "