At the recent FNB Dance Umbrella 2007, a special Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Philip Stein, the man who created the Vita awards and other related projects.

With a lifelong love of literature and the arts, Philip Stein started Vanguard Books in central Johannesburg as a young man. It was here that he met with great South African intellects such as Can Themba and Nadine Gordimer.

The Vanguard Bookshop was eventually bought out by CNA and Stein joined the company as Book buyer. It was during this time that Philip Stein created the CNA Literary Award.

Due to serious illness, he retired in about 1980 but he was persuaded to return to the marketplace and create the AA Life Theatre Awards which were launched in 1983 in Johannesburg. From here, he created Vita Promotions which for a period of almost 20 years created the most extraordinary privately funded projects. This included the Vita theatre Awards, The Vita Art Prize and exhibition, the Vita Craft Now awards and exhibitions, the Market Laboratory Community Theatre Festival, the Windybrow Arts Festival and, most importantly, the FNB Dance Umbrella.

It is due to Philip Stein’s openness and engagement with the arts that lead to the birth of the FNB Dance Umbrella. Two journalists, Adrienne Sichel and Marilyn Jenkins approached Stein in 1987 with a proposal to create a platform for new contemporary choreography and dance. In 1988, the Dance Umbrella was born. This year it celebrated 19 years of being the main platform for new work in South Africa.