Michael Garbett leads the artistic and strategic development of the Vrystaat Arts Festival, with an eye for talent, a love of good stories, and a healthy distrust of the predictable. He brings artists, audiences, and partners together and believes that an arts festival should make space for new voices, bold ideas, and, every now and then, something no one quite saw coming. For him, the best festival is one where people come to see what’s on the programme and go home with something they’ll be talking about for a long time to come.
As Programme Manager, Marijda thrives somewhere between the big ideas and the fine detail needed to turn them into reality. With more than 15 years of experience in theatre and the arts, she moves between artists, partners, plans, and the many moving parts that make a festival programme happen. She has a particular instinct for collaboration and the possibilities that emerge when the right ideas, people, and opportunities find one another. She believes in the arts’ ability to bring people together, open up conversations, and create space for new perspectives – and in the little bit of organised chaos it takes to bring a festival to life.
As the Literature Festival Coordinator, Mia moves between books, authors, publishers, and the many conversations that keep the literary world alive. She is involved in the development, curation, and coordination of the Literature Festival programme, helping to bring “One Festival, Many Stories” to life by creating space for diverse voices, perspectives, and forms of storytelling. For Mia, the Literature Festival is a place where readers, writers, and thinkers can come together, share ideas, and discover and experience literature in meaningful ways – because a good book is often only the beginning of the conversation.
Juné’s Festival world unfolds somewhere between the screen and the stage – and in everything that needs to happen behind the scenes to bring both to life. As Programme Coordinator, she curates Vlieks, where African narratives are shared with Festival audiences free of charge, and coordinates Vrynge, which creates space for emerging and experimental artists. Since joining the Festival in 2024, contracts, venues, schedules, and logistics have become part of her daily puzzle. For Juné, the joy lies in making all the pieces fit so that artists can share their work and audiences can simply arrive, watch, and experience.
For twenty-five years, the heart of the Festival has beat through her hands. She is “Mamma Fees” – a title earned over decades from artists, exhibitors, and colleagues alike. From the earliest years, she has been deeply woven into the Festival’s life behind the scenes – from competitions for festival posters and slogans and the selection of productions, to arranging artists’ travel and accommodation and planning the open stage. For 15 years, the Arts Market was her world, where she guided it through growth and change and helped shape it into the vibrant market space festivalgoers know today. Now, 25 years and five festival directors later, she remains a quiet anchor on the administrative front – with the kind of knowledge of the Festival that only comes from having helped build what it has become.
Peter Taljaard keeps the Vrystaat Arts Festival’s markets moving – somewhere between artists and entrepreneurs, food and art, stalls and the thousand little things that make a market come alive. With his background in drama and theatre, he sees a market as much more than simply a place where people buy and sell; for him, it is a space where people meet, discover, and become part of the Festival. He works alongside exhibitors, artists, and partners to keep these spaces creative, vibrant, and relevant. Because for Peter, even a market has its own stage – and every stall has something to contribute to the Festival’s story.
Michelle Horn is the Technical Manager of the Vrystaat Arts Festival and has spent more than 15 years making theatre magic happen – usually behind the curtain with a radio in one hand, a schedule in the other, and someone asking, “Can we quickly change something?” With a background in stage, production, and technical management, she leads the festival’s technical teams and helps turn ambitious artistic ideas into reality across its many venues. Michelle thrives on organised chaos, impossible changeovers, and finding Plan D when Plans A, B, and C have left the building. For her, theatre is ultimately about people, teamwork, laughter, and making the impossible look completely planned.
MC Roodt works as a curator across contemporary art, Arts and Health, and critical social practice, with a particular interest in Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD). His work explores how art can engage with communities, institutions, and contested social spaces. He manages the International Institute for the Arts (IIA) at the University of the Free State, where he develops programmes across art, health, and cultural development. As curator of the Vrystaat Arts Festival’s Visual Arts programme, he helps shape a programme in which art is not only seen, but also asks questions, sparks conversations, and creates space for new perspectives.
As an artist and creative practitioner herself, Saajidah knows the world of the arts from the inside – a perspective she brings to her role as Visual Arts Assistant Coordinator. With experience spanning the arts, events, marketing, and communications, she helps shape the Festival’s Visual Arts programme and initiatives. Her passion lies in creating opportunities for artists and contributing to an arts environment that is vibrant, creative, and accessible. For Saajidah, after all, it is not only about the art that is seen, but also about creating the space for artists to show it.
Jannes Erasmus is equally at home among books, words, and the conversations they inspire. As Literature Festival Assistant Coordinator, he brings his experience as a writer, reviewer, and journalist to the Festival, and also hosts the popular book podcast Denktrein. His work has appeared in publications including Rapport, Die Burger and Taalgenoot. Whether on the page, behind a microphone, or among the books of the Literature Festival, for Jannes, there is always room for one more good conversation.
