Chris Avant-Smith

Chris is primarily a television and theatre producer. He is a bit of an all-rounder having started his professional life working on B grade American movies filmed in South Africa, he then moved onto becoming a model agent and an events coordinator. Through a friend, he became very involved in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, specializing in counseling and home based care. Chris was a founder member of Friends for Life a care organization, The AIDS Consortium Project and ACT UP South Africa. Chris was seconded to the Gauteng Department of Health AIDS and Communicable Diseases Directorate, heading up HIV counseling in the province. Chris was also involved in the Ebola Outbreak Joint Operations Command, handling the counseling and social awareness aspect of the response. Chris hosted a radio program on SABC Community Radio dealing with HIV in the Muslim Community.
Chris however still hankered after the thrill of the Arts and he once again changed careers and became a television production manager, working on drama’s, game-shows and the very successful AM2DAY morning breakfast show on SABC 2. His current television work includes the Power Play Game Show and he is a producer of soccer matches all over the African Continent for Canal France International. He is also the producer for the European Commissions crew in Southern Africa.
In a wonderful stroke of luck a mutual friend introduced Chris to Rita van den Heever who was about to produce West Side Story for RAU. Chris became the production manager for the RAU and subsequently the University of Johannesburg and for the UJ ARTS Centre. Having successfully produced nearly 20 shows together over the past 8 years, Rita and Chris form the ideal team to spearhead ARTS TODAY.
Chris has a diploma in Broadcasting having studied under Malcom Russel of 702.

Rita studied medicine at the University of Pretoria, failed spectacularly after a year dedicated to hedonism, went on to study drama at UP, and since then life has been a ball.
She joined the SABC TV as a film editor in 1973, after a three-month stint of selling dresses at Uniewinkels. When the TV broadcast started in 1976 she became a continuity announcer. She subsequently presented just about everything on the box, excluding sport and the news. From early on Rita was involved with arts programmes, presenting such programmes as Encore!, Arts on One, direct broadcasts of the Unisa music competitions, direct broadcasts of the symphony concerts and specialist series such as Aan die Lied.
Rita was for many years a member of the then SABC Choir, which subsequently became the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg. She has a number of unmentionable movies and TV dramas to her credit, and she has worked as a journalist for Rooi Rose magazine.
In 1994 she was appointed as the Cultural Officer to the Sandton City Council. She started the Lunch Hour Concerts in the Sandton Art Gallery on Friday afternoons, which is still going strong. In 1996 she joined the Rand Afrikaans University as Cultural Officer. This opened up a whole new world of arts management, and she has been learning steadily on the job ever since. Over the years the cultural office grew and expanded and became the Arts Academy, and the RAU became the University of Johannesburg. All the wonderful things culminated in the building of the UJ Arts Centre, the state of the art gallery and theatre situated on the University’s Kingsway Campus in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. This is where you will find Chris and Rita happily spending their working life when they are not bringing you Arts Today on 1485!

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	Chris Avant-Smith & Rita van den Heever		email Chris and Rita on [email protected]
Chris Avant-Smith & Rita van den Heever Arts Today Sundays @ 10 am repeated on Thursdays at 9h30pm and Arts Today is all about the arts and the artists, performers and performances. It's a hands on, accessible guide for Gautengers to hear what is happening in the arts world. It will help them to get to know the personalities involved and to give them background and insight into shows, concerts, exhibitions and events. Since all the arts are very much alive and thriving, the idea is to bring the Arts to the public through interviews with the movers and shakers in the performing and fine arts world. We will look for the story behind the story, keeping our listeners entertained and informed so that they can go and see/hear/feel for themselves. The main categories we will be covering are classical music, dance, drama, musical theatre, exhibitions and special events. Here are some interesting links: http://www.artslink.co.za http://www.yeoville.co.za http://www.wildswalk.co.za		Chris is primarily a television and theatre producer. He is a bit of an all-rounder having started his professional life working on B grade American movies filmed in South Africa, he then moved onto becoming a model agent and an events coordinator. Through a friend, he became very involved in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, specializing in counseling and home based care. Chris was a founder member of Friends for Life a care organization, The AIDS Consortium Project and ACT UP South Africa. Chris was seconded to the Gauteng Department of Health AIDS and Communicable Diseases Directorate, heading up HIV counseling in the province. Chris was also involved in the Ebola Outbreak Joint Operations Command, handling the counseling and social awareness aspect of the response. Chris hosted a radio program on SABC Community Radio dealing with HIV in the Muslim Community. Chris however still hankered after the thrill of the Arts and he once again changed careers and became a television production manager, working on drama’s, game-shows and the very successful AM2DAY morning breakfast show on SABC 2. His current television work includes the Power Play Game Show and he is a producer of soccer matches all over the African Continent for Canal France International. He is also the producer for the European Commissions crew in Southern Africa. In a wonderful stroke of luck a mutual friend introduced Chris to Rita van den Heever who was about to produce West Side Story for RAU. Chris became the production manager for the RAU and subsequently the University of Johannesburg and for the UJ ARTS Centre. Having successfully produced nearly 20 shows together over the past 8 years, Rita and Chris form the ideal team to spearhead ARTS TODAY. Chris has a diploma in Broadcasting having studied under Malcom Russel of 702. Rita studied medicine at the University of Pretoria, failed spectacularly after a year dedicated to hedonism, went on to study drama at UP, and since then life has been a ball. She joined the SABC TV as a film editor in 1973, after a three-month stint of selling dresses at Uniewinkels. When the TV broadcast started in 1976 she became a continuity announcer. She subsequently presented just about everything on the box, excluding sport and the news. From early on Rita was involved with arts programmes, presenting such programmes as Encore!, Arts on One, direct broadcasts of the Unisa music competitions, direct broadcasts of the symphony concerts and specialist series such as Aan die Lied. Rita was for many years a member of the then SABC Choir, which subsequently became the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg. She has a number of unmentionable movies and TV dramas to her credit, and she has worked as a journalist for Rooi Rose magazine. In 1994 she was appointed as the Cultural Officer to the Sandton City Council. She started the Lunch Hour Concerts in the Sandton Art Gallery on Friday afternoons, which is still going strong. In 1996 she joined the Rand Afrikaans University as Cultural Officer. This opened up a whole new world of arts management, and she has been learning steadily on the job ever since. Over the years the cultural office grew and expanded and became the Arts Academy, and the RAU became the University of Johannesburg. All the wonderful things culminated in the building of the UJ Arts Centre, the state of the art gallery and theatre situated on the University’s Kingsway Campus in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. This is where you will find Chris and Rita happily spending their working life when they are not bringing you Arts Today on 1485! BACK