The Board of The Prince Claus Fund has announced South African Opera singer and director, Marcus Tebogo Desando, as the new director of the Prince Claus Fund.
Desando succeeds Joumana El Zein Khoury who became director of the World Press Photo Foundation earlier this year.
The board of the culture fund announced this appointment recently in a statement saying Desando will assume the role beginning 2022.
“The Board of the Prince Claus Fund is pleased to announce the appointment of our new Director, Marcus Tebogo Desando. Marcus will take up the post in Amsterdam beginning 2022.
“Marcus is the embodiment of the spirit of the Prince Claus Fund. As an artist, Marcus has a cultural background to understand other artists and the importance of their development. As director of a South African development organization in the field of arts and culture, he understands the role the Prince Claus Fund has to play. Both as an artist and as director he has shown vision, ambition and the leadership skills required to lead the Prince Claus Fund into the future” the statement said.
Desando has been director of The Arts and Culture Trust in Johannesburg since 2017. Before that, he directed the Gauteng Opera in Johannesburg and was the artistic director of BTE VO1SS (formerly Black Tie Ensemble). Desandro is a professional singer who has also directed and conducted in South Africa.
According to Ila Kasem, chairman of the board of the Prince Claus Fund, Desando has “the cultural background to understand artists and the importance of their development”.
Both as an artist and director, the new director has shown the “vision, ambition and leadership” to lead the fund into the future” he said.
The Prince Claus Fund was founded in 1996 with the mission to honor, support and connect artists in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe, especially where they and their work are under pressure.
The Fund is supported by, among others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various companies, organizations and private individuals.
This year the fund has launched a new strategy aimed at a series of Awards in support of individual artists.
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