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Is the heritage sector ready for 2010?
Sipho with Makaraba /
www.makaraba.co.za
Elizabeth Ouma of the National Museums of Kenya reflects on how heritage organisations are responding to the oppurtunities posed by the FIFA World Cup:
By now it is widely known that the FIFA World Cup will kick off in South Africa in June 2010 and that this is the first time that the prestigious tournament will be hosted on African soil. If the publicity in the build up towards the event is anything to go by, the organizers have positioned it as capturing and eliciting the ‘spirit of Africa’. I particularly liked the advert in which the stadia are shown as built on and filled with the ‘spirit’ of the continent collected from every corner of Africa.
As I think about this though, I wonder to what extent heritage institutions in South Africa and indeed throughout the continent have recognized and taken up the opportunity to showcase the ‘spirit of Africa’ during the world cup. Looking through the websites of SAHRA, Department of Arts and Culture South Africa, AFRICOM, CHDA, EPA and many individual museums and heritage management institutions, there is little evidence that these institutions are even aware that the greatest soccer spectacle in the world and is coming to Africa! Reference to it is limited to statements in speeches by ministers and other dignitaries at events organized by or touching on heritage matters. If there are any initiatives to attract and cater for the large number of visitors expected in heritage institutions, then very little information has been released about it … unless of course this is an indication of the fact that there are no specific projects aimed at preparing the museums and heritage sites for large numbers of visitors. If the former is the case then the heritage sectors has a long way to go in implementing marketing strategies; if the latter is the case then the opportunity cost for Africa’s heritage is massive!
Do I see die hard defensive heritage management proponents cringe? Do I see some head shaking at the thought that I could even suggest the ‘commoditization of heritage’ at the behest of a sports spectacle? Consider this: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 2005) estimated the global market value of industries with strong creative and cultural components at US$ 1.3 trillion. Between 2000 and 2005, the industry grew at an annual compound rate of over 7%. Globally, these industries are estimated to account for more than 7% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (World Bank, 2003) and are forecast to grow roughly at the same pace over the next three years reaching US$ 1.7 trillion (PWC, 2005). Yet while cultural industry contributes so immensely to both global and country economies, we in the heritage sector in Africa either do not recognise or refuse to acknowledge it.
A significant part of the cultural industry that contributes greatly to the global cultural economy is heritage tourism. The demand for cultural destination has increased tremendously over the last decade or so, making heritage a contemporary commodity purposefully created to satisfy contemporary consumption. In the process of convergence between cultural heritage and tourism, the multiple and complex human motives and the resulting segmentation of demand, has created a trend in which the typical tourist moved away from the sun and sea holiday, towards more sophisticated types of vacations where exclusivity, differentiation, and unique personal experiences are the norms of the day. Cultural heritage resources such as world heritage sites can gradually develop into niche products in the industry.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, heritage tourism is a multi billion-dollar business globally. Part of the mandate for any heritage institution is to provide access to and disseminate its heritage message to the public. How about we make some money for the institutions while we are at it? The whole world will be coming to Africa in June 2010, literally and metaphorically! In effect we shall have close to a billion potential visits -millions as actual visitors and the rest on electronic media and heritage institutions MUST serve them. To do this, heritage managers have to realise that potential consumers have become increasingly discerning and incomes now allow for greater demand for cultural destinations and as a result marketing becomes an imperative rather than a choice. Heritage institutions must move away from the traditional supply-driven approach to cultural heritage management and conservation in which the heritage is deemed as an inherently ‘good’ product requiring no marketing to one with greater focus on the social and economic value of heritage.
In practice and with particular reference to the world cup, this shift in focus means that if there are programmes in the making for 2010 at any heritage institutions, we should be shouting about them from the rooftops otherwise in the loud noise that will accompany the football festival, we risk being drowned out. If there are no initiatives yet, all is not lost. Through initiatives coordinated by such institutions as AFRICOM, CHDA, EPA, SADDCAM and partnership between museums in different parts of the continent, the world may still encounter the ‘spirit of Africa’ through media and methods only limited by our imagination and the fact that we may be entering the fundraising at the tail end of the 2010 related, funds disbursement that has been going on for a while.
So will we yet see the spirits of the Pharaohs in the Iziko; the Dogon in the Albert Luthili and the Sanye in the eThekwini Museums? Will the museums and heritage sites become profit centres as the governments in the region seek to maximise expenditure from all visitors… will the message of Africa vibrancy, awakening and rich heritage reach every viewer of the world cup next year? It is up to us I guess….
Photo attribution: http://www.makaraba.co.za
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This article is thought provoking. Indeed heritage tourism is a growing economic field in the world, but sadly not in Africa. Whereas the rest of the world has commoditized heritage and therefore gained a lot from it, Africa has not. I wish our heritage managers and governments will awaken to this reality and use the world cup as a stepping stone to better marketing of African heritage. We spend millions marketing our natural heritage (wildlife basically) to the exclusion of our cultural heritage when the reality is that nature and culture in Africa is intertwined. Good work Liz
The SA 2010 budget for ALL cultural programming is a mere R150 million. Compare this to, say, R15 billion (and counting) for stadium construction . . . and it becomes clear where the priorities are. In part this is a financial resources issue, but it is also an issue of political will, ideas, and private sector (lack of) support.
The views expressed in this article needs to be taken seriously by all heritage professionals in Africa for the idea of sustainability of the continent’s heritage resources and development to be realized. Innovation and positive utilization by exploiting all the opportunities such as the 2010 FIFA world Cup is the way foward for the continent. There is a small group of heritage professionals from Europe, Brazil and South Africa who have a project on the theme while the continent of Africa seems to be spectating. Let African heritage professionals take advantage of opportunities and the huge resources found in the continent to make a positive development contribution.
The world cup 2010 will be the first tournament to be hosted by an African nation, with South Africa beating Morocco and Egypt in a bidding process that involved all-African nations. The choice of Africa to be the venue for the 2010 Soccer World Cup was in accordance with a new policy of rotating the event between football confederations, a policy that was later revised and unfortunately abandoned in October 2007.