I built a town's biggest festival from a blank page.
Ten weeks. No team to start. No government funding. 20,000+ people through the door.
Parys is a small town on the Vaal River in the Free State — the kind of place where nothing quite like this had been done before. I conceived, launched and single-handedly project-managed a first-of-its-kind 18-day arts festival — the first ever for Parys, and the first arts festival in South Africa to stage exhibitions across two provinces (Free State and North West) — from a blank page to opening night in just ten weeks.
There was no provincial or national funding behind it. I ran it on ticket sales, sponsor goodwill and a loan: a butchery in Vanderbijlpark put up R50,000 just to cover the artists' deposits. Everything else happened on faith — the artists held each other's hands, and 18 galleries across town opened their doors alongside 130+ artists and roughly 150 painting dogs.
When the doors opened, Parys had never seen anything like it. 20,000+ visitors came through the galleries, art sales topped R150,000+, and the festival raised over R23,000 for local charities. Local businesses doubled and, in some cases, tripled their normal sales — it became, by a wide margin, the largest public event in the town's history.
"Parys is reclaiming its diverse art repertoire, and the Parys artists are excited to put their beloved town back in the number one spot as the art capital of the Free State."
Deon TerBlanche, festival press release, January 2018Owned it start to finish — concept, budget, sponsors, artists, galleries, marketing and logistics, with no team to hand it off to.
Financed it without a safety net — no provincial or national funding, just a sponsor's loan to cover artist deposits and a belief it would work.
Recruited and coordinated 130+ artists across 18 independent galleries, each with its own space, schedule and expectations.
Got certified before pitching — completed SA Tourism's SA Specialist course to speak travellers' language before asking them to come.
Hit a hard ten-week deadline — no slipping the launch date once the town knew it was coming.
What organising it solo actually cost me, by the numbers, in the ten weeks before doors opened:
The official ArtDog poster — Monday 2 April 2018, in aid of the Parys SPCA.
On the Monday of the festival, I ran something that — as far as I could find — had never been staged anywhere in the world before: a dog-walk art event. Around 150 dogs walked a route through Parys with their paws dipped in paint, leaving their tracks on a canvas laid out along the way. Water and treat stations kept both dogs and owners going, and the whole event ran for the benefit of the local SPCA.
Local artist Hennie Kruger took the finished paw-print canvas and worked it into a piece in its own right, which was auctioned at the festival's Art on the Bank Day for R1,700. Between the auction and ArtDog entry fees, the event raised roughly R7,300 toward the SPCA — on top of the R8,850 raised separately for the SPCA and R14,646 for Epilepsy SA Free State through the festival's other fundraising events.
Previous sales records doubled or tripled across local businesses over the festival's three weekends.
One restaurant went through 100kg+ of extra mozzarella in a single day and still sold out. Another ran at capacity and had to close its doors to keep customers out.
Fast food outlets sold out, supermarket shelves emptied of meat, milk and bread, and a local filling station ran dry.
Accommodation hit 99.9% full on the opening long weekend, staying 70–85% full for the two weekends after.
Yellowfish Sculpture
After an ecological disaster killed off fish in the Vaal River, I gathered 90 pieces of granite from the riverbed itself and wired them together into the silhouette of a leaping Orange-Vaal smallmouth yellowfish, then suspended the whole piece from the bridge connecting the Free State to the North West — right where thousands of visitors pass through every year. It went on to make the front page of Beeld, South Africa's biggest Afrikaans daily, and I was later named Beeld's "Person of the Week" for it. Made in support of the Vaal Aksiegroep's push to protect the river.
Tyre Horse Installation
Built a life-size horse sculpture out of tyres and rubber scrap collected along the N1 highway just outside Parys — waste discarded by passing trucks that would otherwise sit in the environment for generations. Turned a roadside pollution problem into a piece of public art with something to say.
Community Mural Projects
Two wall projects, both mine end to end. The first: a 46m² #ImStaying mural on the town's Eskom substation, at the corner of Loop and Heap Street — painted largely by my own hand over seven weeks, with sponsorship from more than 20 local guesthouses and businesses, in support of the #ImStaying movement (a positivity campaign that grew past 400,000 members). It's been shared repeatedly by visitors and covered in the local press ever since. The second: a full community paint day I organised from scratch — my concept, my sponsors — where volunteers of all ages turned out with brushes to transform a long plain wall into the bold geometric rainbow below.
"It is amazing what you guys pulled off! The sheer diversity of the activities, the phenomenal attendance, participation of the community and the tremendous spirit that was created is just awesome! ... It must surely count as a highlight in the history of Parys."
— Gary Westwood, Director, Epilepsy SA Free State"We can wholeheartedly recommend the Parys Arts Festival event and management. The event was a huge success, and we cannot wait to become involved with the organisation of the 2019 event."
— Iris Andrew, Project Manager (festival sponsor)"Congratulations on the very successful Parys Arts Festival... and everything that was arranged in record time."
— Letter to the Editor, Parys GazetteStart from the finished outcome, then work backwards to the plan
Comfortable owning a project solo, start to finish
Sponsorship, budget and logistics handled without a safety net
Calm under pressure when deadlines and stakeholders collide
Creative and technical skills combined under one roof