The 2022 Toyota US Woordfees festival is officially underway in Stellenbosch.
The annual event, which is one of the biggest art festivals in the country, is set to run from 10 to 16 October, according to Danie Marais, the media officer and manager of digital content for Woordfees.
The Erfurthuis, located on Ryneveld Street, serves as the ticketing office for the 2022 Toyota US Woordfees, according to Ingrid Heydenrych, digital marketing and publicity officer at Woordfees. PHOTO: Cody Hansen
What is Woordfees?
Woordfees is “a big art festival with all of the arts rolled into one”, said Marais.
The festival was established in 2000 by the department of Afrikaans and Dutch at Stellenbosch University (SU), and originally consisted of a night of poetry, said Marais. “I think it started out of love for the word and everything surrounding that,” he said.
From there, the idea “just really snowballed”, said Marais.
Woordfees now consists of multiple genres and has grown into one of the biggest art festivals in South Africa, he stated.
What to expect this year
“There will be the writer’s festival, theatre, dance, discourse – which includes an agriculture section. Then we have a film festival, contemporary music, classical music, visual arts and a lifestyle section,” said Marais. “So, we have more or less 250 offerings in about 40 venues in and around Stellenbosch.”
The two main sponsors of Woordfees are SU and Toyota, he stated.
Woordfees banners surround the Stellenbosch University Museum on Ryneveld Street to mark the beginning of the 2022 Toyota US Woordfees. PHOTOS: Cody Hansen
“The university provides a lot of infrastructure and they also have a lot of offerings on the programme. They are especially strong in the discourse area, where you have influencers from the university taking part, and then of course the SU choir is also managed by Woordfees,” said Marais.
Media sponsors include Media24 and kykNET, while Standard Bank is involved with the cashless system of this year’s festival. ATKV and Distell are involved with the Savanna stand-up comedy section, and EasyEquities is a new sponsor involved with the writers section, he stated.
Student specials
Student specials will be available for some of the shows held at the Toyota Jan Marais Park, which include: Karen Zoid, Spoegwolf, Francois van Coke, Early B and Bongeziwe Mabandla. This is according to Ingrid Heydenrych, digital marketing and publicity officer at Woordfees.
There will also be specials for Al om Aintjie and the four Savanna stand-up comedy shows, said Heydenrych.
“Every single one of these tickets that are part of the student specials cost R150, and all students have to do is come to the Erfurthuis – the ticket office – and show their student card, and they will be able to make use of these specials,” she said.
A section of Ryneveld Street will be closed off for the duration of Woordfees from 09:00 to 16:30 daily, according to Stuart Grobbelaar, spokesperson for Stellenbosch Municipality. PHOTO: Cody Hansen
Road closures
Due to Woordfees, Ryneveld Street will be closed from the traffic circle by SU’s Old Main Building up until Plein Street, according to Stuart Grobbelaar, spokesperson for Stellenbosch Municipality.
This section of the street will be closed from 10 to 16 October from 09:00 to 16:30 daily, according to Grobbelaar.