Arts, culture and heritage sector’s economic challenges and opportunities: Departmental briefing

The Parliamentary Monitoring Group report on a Department of Arts and Culture briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture on 14 September 2011.

The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) noted that the Minister and Department had held several meetings to discuss the repositioning of the arts, culture and heritage sector as an economic growth sector, and to introduce programmes that would contribute to employment, in response to Government’s New Growth Path and call for creation of jobs. Arts and culture had the potential to create many jobs, but there were a number of challenges that prevented Government from reaching its intended targets. Firstly, the sector was not seen as a priority for career choices, as it was perceived that it would not offer as good salaries or stability as the traditional professions, and many young people had not had the opportunity to have their talent identified or developed at school level. The lack of clarity in the roles of the Department of Arts and Culture and other departments, and in the roles of the DAC and its own entities, led to overlaps and uncertain responsibilities. There was also little alignment in disbursement of National Lottery Funds. Arts, culture and heritage wee all crucial factors in social cohesion, and those countries with social cohesion tended to experience higher rates of economic growth. The Department had now created new intervention models that were more holistic and geared to proper and systematic planning from the ideas to the final production and consumption.

The DAC described its three project interventions to stimulate demand for art based products. All initiatives were to build on existing ideas, work through existing institutions and complete detailed plans. Talent must be identified and developed. High impact art programmes would maximise growth and contribute to employment generation. However, it was stressed that a monitoring and evaluation system must simultaneously be developed, to ensure that resources were used to their full potential, and that a demand was being stimulated so that there was greater uptake both by artists and the public. The Public Art Programme would be large scale and labour intensive, with young people being asked to showcase talent in public spaces, which could generate over 5 000 jobs. An Art Bank would be developed, and art would in particular be showcased and sold at foreign offices. The Sourcing Enterprise Project would create a platform to profile all practising and credible creative industries and heritage services providers, and this could generate 1 225 jobs. There were also four interventions aimed at developing audiences, which were the Cultural Precints Project, which would become a platform for promotion and marketing of creative industries, the promotion of cultural events, including major signature events like Jazz Festivals,  creation of permanent information centres in urban and rural areas, to offer marketing material and access to virtual exhibitions and portals, delivery through mobile information centres, which should create about 600 jobs,  and development of Touring Ventures to allow those in remote areas to participate in art projects, with subsidisation for producers and presenters, which was likely to generate 1 050 jobs.

The Department further aimed to focus on early identification and development of talent, both through collaborations with the Department of Basic Education, and through the setting up of after-school centres and programmes, including post-school programmes, and a Master Arts Centre. The apartheid-bias of the current heritage offerings would also be corrected, and new National Liberation Heritage Road and Marine Heritage programmes would be developed.

Members asked about the composition, funding and need to prevent conflict of interest in the project teams, and questioned the increase in the budget, and whether it would be wise for the Department to work with the National Arts Council. They asked how early talent would be identified, asked about schools programmes, and were particularly interested to know how the rural areas would be reached. The Chairperson was critical of the DAC’s success in reaching rural areas in the past, asked how municipal infrastructure would be built – and in some cases reclaimed from its current occupiers – and thought that it should work with the Department of Trade and Industry. The Members questioned how the bias in heritage institutions was to be redressed. They questioned why the Committee had not been invited to the consultative conference, and called for a further meeting around these proposals.

To read the minutes of the meeting,listen to an audio-recording of the proceedings, or download the presentation, visit the Parliamentary Monitoring Group website.

Source: Parliamentary Monitoring Group website

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