The National Arts Festival is Grahamstown's biggest reason to make a deliberate trip. For about eleven days in late June and early July, the small university city becomes one of Africa's major stages, with a main programme and a large fringe spread through theatres, halls, churches, and temporary venues.
If your dates line up, book ahead and treat the whole town as the venue. If they do not, the festival still explains why Grahamstown carries more cultural weight than its size suggests.