VerifiedThis page covers the performing arts as a whole. If you already know your discipline, go straight to the page for it, because the funding differs sharply between them: music has a royalties-funded foundation behind it, dance has almost nothing, and drama and theatre is funded through institutions rather than bursaries.
The state funders
Two bodies carry most of the public money in the performing arts.
- The National Arts Council, established in 1997 by Act 56 of 1997, funds individuals and organisations across the arts. It issues a separate call for each bursary and the dates change every year.
- The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture runs the Bursary for Creative Minds, which closed on 31 January 2026 in its last round.
The NYDA Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund and the Mmabana Foundation fund arts students within wider programmes.
The large general scholarships
These fund the arts alongside commerce, science and engineering, so you compete against every other field on the same call:
- Allan Gray Orbis Fellowship
- Absa Fellowship
- Canon Collins Tom Queba Scholarship
- Canon Collins Thekgo bursary for outstanding debt
- Access Trust
- NESP
- Bridgestone
- DAAD Master’s Scholarships in Germany for South Africans
The Canon Collins Thekgo bursary is the one to remember if you are already studying and blocked by historic debt. Very few funders will clear outstanding fees, and in the arts this is often what stops a student graduating.
Postgraduate awards
The Dudley D’Ewes Scholarship funds postgraduate study in the performing arts and closes on 26 September 2026. The Fine Music Radio bursary supports classical music students.
See also our arts bursaries page for the full list.