And Yet I Smile by Lebohang Motaung was one of the 21 artworks that was auctioned. Photo / Supplied
And Yet I Smile by Lebohang Motaung was one of the 21 artworks that was auctioned. Photo / Supplied
Carl Bates is no stranger to winning awards for business, but receiving two for an art initiative - The Lockdown Collection - was something he didn't see coming.
The Whanganui-born businessman has spent the past 10 years travelling between New Zealand and South Africa, and it was that country's firstCovid-19 restrictions last year that inspired the project.
"I was sitting on the couch, and President [Cyril] Ramaphosa announced the South African lockdown," Bates said.
"My son was 1-and-a-half at the time, and I turned to him and said 'Angus, you're not going to remember this, but this day will go down in history'.
"There were two choices. Was I going to bring the family back to New Zealand, because I knew it would be safer here, or was I going to stay in South Africa and ensure we can have a positive impact through what is going to be a tough time?"
Bates decided to stay and, together with advertising and marketing expert Lauren Woolf and visual arts Professor Kim Berman, he founded The Lockdown Collection.
"At school we got taught about the 1929 economic Depression and about the World Wars, and those things came from stories and pictures and art that was captured during that time," Bates said.
"This is the same. Who's capturing the story of Covid-19 and its impact on the world?
That idea involved curating 21 art pieces, each created by a different South African artist, that reflected their thoughts, feelings or vision, or captured moments of their Covid-19 experience.
Each piece was then hosted online and sold at the end of the 21 days, with proceeds going to the Vulnerable Artist Fund to support vulnerable individuals in the visual arts community, and to the President's Solidarity Fund, an organisation that supports South Africa's national health response to Covid-19.
Bates' day job is as the managing partner of Sirdar, an educator, appointer and guide of high-performance boards for privately-held and family companies.
"I'm not an artist or an art critic, so my role in it [The Lockdown Collection] was driving them along, really," Bates said.
"Kim and Lauren were debating over which piece we should launch with, and I eventually got a scribble of Angus' off the fridge and said 'Guys if you don't decide which artist we're launching with today, we are going with Angus' kindergarten piece'.
"Unfortunately, he didn't quite cut the grade."
Carl Bates is back from South Africa and has set up shop near Sanson. Photo / Supplied
While Berman and Woolf took care of the art side of things, Bates approached businesses to get every day of the collection underwritten to the tune of $2500.
"Initially, everyone was telling us we couldn't do it," Bates said.
"People were saying that they didn't like to give to charitable options because 'they don't work', and galleries didn't want their big, headline artists to work with us because they didn't think we would be successful. They didn't want a great artist attached to a bad brand, essentially.
"When we managed to get all the pieces underwritten, we got a different level of engagement. People said 'Oh, these guys are serious'."
The project, which is ongoing, has raised close to 4 million rand (NZ$390,620) to date, and was a finalist for three awards at this year's Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards.
The Lockdown Collection came home with the First-Time Sponsor Award and the SMMA Award (for vital support given to the arts by a micro, small or medium enterprise).
Bates said he hoped the success would inspire the project's volunteers before the next collection got under way.
"I was absolutely no good at art back at Whanganui High School, so to win an award for it is something really special and unexpected.
"For me, the thing that's extra special is that business can play a role in supporting arts - if everybody comes to the table with the right intention."
Bates said he and his family were now living on "a little lifestyle block" near Sanson, and his wife Candice Bates was working as a vet at Southern Rangitīkei Veterinary Services in Bulls.
He was still able to do business remotely, with Zoom calls being taken "in a paddock".
"We came back home for my mum's wedding in January. She's also a Whanganui person and she and I are in business together," Bates said.
"There was MIQ and all that jazz, and in April we decided it was time to stay and look at the next stage on one's horizon.
"I'm sure time will tell what happens on that front."
