Cultural Observatory workshops pull back veil on needs of arts, culture, heritage sectors
THE SOUTH African Cultural Observatory (SACO) recently completed a country-wide tour of the arts, culture and heritage sectors, in a workshop series that aimed to listen, learn and distil from the inputs of practitioners across all nine provinces.
The take-outs from the workshops have revealed, through many voices, the real needs of the sector.
“The domain workshop series allowed us to experience first-hand the depth of our country’s creative and cultural industries. We have heard the good, the bad and the ugly – in a necessary, complex voicing of hope, despair, potential and promise,” said Prof. Richard Haines, SACO Chief Executive.
“We have spent the past six months listening to the sector voices as we criss-crossed South Africa to host nine domain workshops. We were privileged to delve deep into South Africa and its arts, culture and heritage sectors to both introduce the SACO and our work; and to connect with the many creative people driving the country’s creative economy.”
Since the launch of the workshop series in August, SACO has visited Rustenburg, Polokwane, Nelspruit, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Grahamstown. It has also hosted a series of statistical and other capacity building workshops.
Workshop outcomes
The outcomes reveal a similar strand of emergent themes emanating from the sector. Many of the participants noted that while networks are strong, smaller cities, towns and rural areas struggle to access networks and need more structural support in integrating them into existing networks and supporting the development of new linkages.
The sectors all noted that there is a real need for a central portal to access industry-relevant information and resources to share perspectives, said Unathi Lutshaba, SACO researcher who attended all the domain workshops.
“The other critical needs included infrastructure – for example studio space – and resources. There is also a strong demand for education, capacity-building and training, emerging from the sector and a need for support in professionalising the sector,” said Lutshaba.
From a SACO perspective, participants indicated that they would like SACO to assist with free access to national research and benchmarking. The also wanted to see the incorporation of multiple knowledge bases and methodologies to ultimately build an ideological framework for an African arts, heritage and culture sector.
“Interestingly they also requested an intermediary role. They want SACO to be the go- between government departments such as the Department of Arts & Culture and Industrial Development Corporation, so their voices may be heard.
“Then there is a request to support on understanding and grappling with the reality-based business case to build the sector and viable arts businesses. For that the needs are as basic as help with company registration processes to the more complex need for artistic hubs,” Lutshaba added.
The practitioners also indicated that they want research that is most useful to them suggesting the following:
- community-based research;
- practised-based research;
- relevant and responsive case studies with a focus on BRICS and Pan African;
- showcasing of different research methodologies (alternatives); and
- academic resources and industry trends.
“Through the domain workshops we have expanded our reach, amplified our network, created new partnerships and come to understand – on another level – the experiences, frustrations, lived realities and hopes and dreams of the people who enable our arts, heritage and culture sectors and creative and cultural industries thrive,” Haines added.
“Now we are intent on distilling the vibrancy, dissent, complexity and value of the arts, heritage and culture sectors into research based on expressed needs and trends that emerged from the workshops.”