Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK)

Client: Kunste Onbeperk (NPC)

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Period: 2022-2023

Arts, culture & heritage

01 The sneak-peek

Die hele ketoetie — allésaam. The whole shebang — alltogether

After COVID emptied the festival landscape, Kunste Onbeperk asked BBA Liminal to help turn the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival around — a rewritten vision and mission, a refreshed identity, new partnerships and a creative idea that brought the mother festival back to Oudtshoorn.

02 The liminal moment

COVID hollowed out the festival landscape, and the years that followed placed immense pressure on national arts festivals to perform as they had before. For the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival — held every Easter weekend in Oudtshoorn under Kunste Onbeperk, alongside Klein Karoo Klassique and Teksmark — the question cut deep: how does a beloved festival adapt to a changed environment without losing the loyal audience that built it?

Kunste Onbeperk approached BBA Liminal for strategic input on a turnaround strategy and a complete brand refresh. The work ran deep: a full vision and mission analysis and rewrite, a new website, all touchpoint collateral, new strategic partnerships, a brand campaign, and strategic and creative input on the festival's offering itself. The deeper task was stewardship — helping an institution that exists for nation-building through the arts return to that purpose, in a landscape that had shifted under its feet.

03 The transformation

We put strategy before surface. Through workshops with the board, a rewritten vision and mission, new partnerships with collaborators and sponsors, and input into the programme itself, we gave the KKNK the tools to adapt to an ever-changing festival landscape — a turnaround, not a repaint.

We refreshed the identity. A completely new visual identity spoke to the fresh audience the festival wants to draw while honouring the brand its loyal audience knows — carried through a new website, the Feesgids and every touchpoint.

We made the festival everyone's again. The 2023 idea — Die hele ketoetie, allésaam — brought together some of the country's top creatives: creative directors, flower stylists, photographers, video producers and editors. It spoke to how differently South Africans experience the festival, and how all of it belongs at the KKNK. The whole shebang, all together.

04 The craft

The whole shebang, made visible

An identity and an idea big enough for everyone's festival: the refreshed KKNK brand across web, Feesgids and ground; campaign photography and creative direction that put real, varied South African experiences in frame; and a 30-second film carrying the spirit of allésaam.