Cape Town – Aardklop, the annual South African arts festival held since 1998 in the town of Potchefstroom in the North-West, will no longer be taking place.
The organisers of the award-winning festival announced the news on Wednesday night in a press release. By Thursday morning the Aardklop website and social media accounts had been shut down.
According to the press release Aardklop will now live on in a different format and will be known as the Aardklop Foundation, aimed at supporting the arts.
Adv. Louise Barretto, chairperson of Aardklop and the Aardklop Foundation, said that after 18 years it was time to reevaluate whether the festival in its current format was still a suitable vehicle to support the arts.
Andries Vrey, executive head of Aardklop, thanked festivalgoers for their support over the years.
Vrey added that information about the “new Aardlop model” and its initiatives would be made public soon.
In 2015 Aardklop was crowned as the best festival in South Africa during the annual Fiesta Awards.