Note from the Culturalist - CEO

WE LIVE and work in interesting times – but what is clear is that leadership is something that is desperately needed. This month at the World Summit on Arts on Culture in Valetta, Malta, the subject of cultural leadership was hotly debated.

The challenge of leadership is not a South African challenge alone. It faces almost every organisation and country globally, as the world as we know it does an about turn. As cultural managers and activists, how can we use our special skills and deep empathy to change the way we see the world and each other in it?

 One of the tools at our disposal is cultural diplomacy – both on a person-to-person level and intra- and inter-nation engagement. Learning about people’s cultural diversity and understanding different worldviews and viewpoints allows you to develop a more holistic image of both people and nations – and therein to find similarity in difference. This is a middle-ground that feels forgotten in today’s polarised world and ways of thinking. But it’s in this diversity of views, expression, opinion and creation that our human core resides. Read more about this in this month’s article on the Summit.

 Arts plays a critical role in putting us in someone else’s shoes so that we might see from an alternate viewpoint. It also helps shape debates, project uncomfortable truths, and supports our arrival at difficult realisations. As we enter a time of tumultuous leadership debates, let us elevate the arts to help us negotiate unchartered territory and see things differently. Let us be good cultural leaders, managers and guides for people who need leaders in this time of crisis. We also need people who support and value the arts, as recent research by Concerts SA shows – and it will make both us and our cities happier and healthier. The youth will play a critical role in ensuring the arts continue to do this for us, and we are proud to see the acknowledgment of yet another worthy cohort of Standard Bank Young Artists as well as the Arts & Culture Trust’s ImpACT Awards this month. 

Update on SACO activities

We have again had a busy month during October, where we hosted one domain workshop a week over the month. Our staff have been incredible in this process, working tirelessly to spread the message of the SACO’s existence across all four corners of the country.  We hosted the following workshops this month

• SACO Domain Workshop 8: Bloemfontein – Free State Province on 5 October 2016.
• SACO Domain Workshop 6: Johannesburg – Gauteng Province on 12 October 2016.
• SACO Domain Workshop 7: Durban – KwaZulu-Natal Province on 18 October 2016.
• SACO Domain Workshop 5: Cape Town – Western Cape Province on 20 October 2016.

 The workshop series will continue in November with three more events scheduled – two in Johannesburg and one in Grahamstown.

• SACO Domain Workshop 6: Johannesburg – Gauteng on 3 November 2016 at The Wanderers Club.
• Practical Application of Statistics Workshop – Johannesburg 10 -11 November 2016 at Misty Hills in Muldersdrift.
• SACO Domain Workshop 9: Grahamstown - Eastern Cape on 17 November 2016 at the National English Literature Museum.

We wrap the year with some serious planning for the next National Conference scheduled for May 2016 in Cape Town, where the revised Research Agenda – which will have been adjusted based on the stakeholder feedback garnered from the workshops – will be presented, along with the updated Monitoring & Evaluation Framework, among other pressing matters emerging from the sector and broader industry which will be profiled and debated.

 Until then, enjoy the October edition of The Cultural Observer.

 Your culturalist,

Prof. Richard Haines

South African Cultural Observatory: CEO