The Montagu Music, Art, Dance and Drama Festival will take place this month in the quaint town situated on Route 62 in the Klein Karoo.

From 18 to 28 July, the much anticipated Montagu Music, Art, Dance and Drama Festival (M.M.A.D.D) will take place in the picturesque town of Montagu in the Klein Karoo, on Route 62.

M.M.A.D.D draws talent mainly from Cape Town and the surrounding areas, as well as Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay and George. The festival categories are Music, Art, Photography, Dance, Literature, Poetry and Drama.

This year will be the first time that the festival will host international competitors when a group of young dancers from the Zeynep Okcu Ballet School in Turkey will participate.

The Festival, an annual event, was started in 1995 by local teachers and volunteers and has grown in strength over the past 17 years. In 2011, Helen Gooderson took over the reins as Festival Director and renamed it as the Montagu Music Art Dance and Drama (M.M.A.D.D) Festival. She simultaneously registered the Rural Arts Development programme (R.A.D) as an NPO. The festival works closely with R.A.D and offers a excellent opportunity for talented youth in the rural communities to have a performance platform and gives developing talent the chance to network with artists and professionals from all over the Province. Last year the festival had close to 1,000 participants from 31 schools -Primary, High School and Tertiary education institutions- from the Western Cape and 2012 is set to exceed this.

The Adjudicators in the various categories are as follows: Music: Dr Loftus Heunis and Emile Minnie; Drama: Godfrey Johnson and Fahruq Valley-Omar; Dance: Allison Foat and Fiona du Plooy; Ballroom & Latin American: Mavis and Ashley Jacobs; Art: Carolyn Metcalfe, Tonya Laure-Smith and Ronel Preston; Photography: Laresa Perlman and Hassner Pepler and Literature: Darryl Davids together with a judging panel.

Trophies are awarded in various categories and additional prizes include a Master Class with Emile Minnie with the winning choir; a Drama Master Class with Godfrey Johnson for the school with Best Drama entry; a “Through the Lens” workshop for the Photography winner and tickets to watch a production by Cape Town Opera, the National Ballet of Cuba at Artscape Opera House and the musical Kat and the Kings at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town.

Details regarding the various performance dates, venues and show times can be found on the Montagu Youth Arts Festival Facebook page (www.facebook.com/groups/montaguyouthfest ). Tickets cost R10 for adults and R5 for children in the afternoons, and R20 for adults and R10 for children in the evenings. The prize giving event which includes guest performances by the Zeynep Ballet and George Musical Theatre Academy takes place on Saturday 28th July at 16h00 at the Montagu Primary Hall and entrance is free, with donations to RAD Foundation welcome.

Festival accommodation packages are available for competitors and spectators with info via 082 886 8023 or youthartsdev@gmail.com