Bookings for the 25^th annual Hilton Arts festival are open. All details on www.hiltonfestival.co.za . Get a hard copy programme from :

What is the Hilton Arts Festival all about?

In July 1993 Sue Clarence and Geoff Thompson were at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Onr night it was cold, wet, windy and miserable. Around midnight they were in a queue in a building known as The Old Gaol where red wine and curry were being served from the yard that used to house the scaffold. By the time they reached the front of the queue, there was neither wine not curry left. Thy decided to start a festival in KZN, with its heart being the new Hilton College Theatre.  Sue Clarence is still the Artistic Director of the event.

This happened in September of the same year. Six productions performed twice each in the Theatre. The festival ran at 110% capacity as there was no real means of monitoring ticket sales! There was a beer tent and Sue stood on the verandah boiling a regular domestic kettle,  making the public tea in polystyrene cups.  Many famous people have trod the boards at Hilton: John Kani, Winston Ntshona, Dame Janet Suzman, Athol Fugard, Andrew Buckland, Bheki Mkhwani.  The rest is history…

In this, the 25^th year, there will be 

• 64 scheduled events: theatre productions, concerts, comedy shows, free music gigs, lectures, movie screenings, workshops
• These will take place in 14 venues, all within the grounds of Hilton College
• There will be 9 exhibitions and 70 individual artists
• Approximately 100 craft stalls
• Approximately 25 food and drink outlets, including the Jackie Cameron Cooking School who will be running  restaurant

The festival now has 18 sponsors and two partnerships.

The aims of the festival are clear and specific.

• To bring the best of SA theatre to KZN for the weekend
• To support this with a quality programme of music of several genres, fine art exhibitions, locally sourced hand-made crafts, food and drink
• Also to support all performances with top rate technical support
• To incorporate Jongosi, a youth programme, into the  event: this project aims to introduce the youth to quality performance and to nurture audiences for the future.

The Hilton Arts Festival is the biggest …and only …festival of its kind in KZN.

Entrance to the grounds is free and all events are individually ticketed.

You only need to park once!

Weather varies from snow to heat wave to rain