News Listing

It’s been a rapidly moving start to the year at the South African Cultural Observatory and momentum is certainly propelling us forward. It’s almost unbelievable that the second quarter of the year is upon us, but looking back much has been achieved that is already setting the tone for the coming months.

Although already in the public domain for over a year now, the KEA and Kaiser Associates Report, Trade In Creative And Cultural Goods And Services – EU-South Africa CCIS Development, is still highly relevant to the South African creative and cultural industries.

The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is inviting nominations for the eagerly awaited 2016 ImpACT Awards, which are held annually in recognition and celebration of excellence within the arts, culture and creative sectors in South Africa.

Does the act of observing change the behaviour of the observed? This key question is in the background as work being done on South Africa’s first ever Cultural Observatory gains momentum and the foundations for the Observatory of the future are laid.

The first national South African Cultural Observatory workshop took place on Friday, 19 February at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Johannesburg. Industry players gathered to hear the vision and motivation for this initiative, ask questions, and voice concerns.

Looking back at 2015, a lot of groundwork and headway was made toward the establishment of the Department of Arts and Culture’s first ever Cultural Observatory. In 2016, we look forward to formalising what we hope will be South Africa’s seminal research institute for statistical analysis and mapping of the socio-economic impact of the cultural and creative industries in South Africa.

South Africans are bracing themselves for a week-long festival of dance at the 2016 Dance Umbrella. The event, held at multiple sites across Johannesburg is an astounding collection of the country’s best dance talent. It showcases ground-breaking new genres, and top notch global collaborations in the dance sector, opening on February 25 at the UJ Arts Centre Theatre and running until March 6, 2016.

A WORKSHOP to introduce the Department of Arts & Culture’s new national public research entity, the South African Cultural Observatory, will take place on February 19, 2016, in Johannesburg. The first annual national workshop will highlight the Cultural Observatory’s role in valuing and developing South Africa's Creative Economy.

DIRECT FROM THE MINISTER'S DESK: “The only hope is in the creation of alternative values, alternative realities. The only hope is in daring to redream one's place in the world - a beautiful act of imagination, and a sustained act of self becoming. Which is to say that in some way or another we breach and confound the accepted frontiers of things.”

A new study published by EY in collaboration with the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), titled, “Cultural Times – The First Global Map of Cultural and Creative Industries” analysed 11 Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) sectors: advertising, architecture, books, gaming, movies, music; has for the first time quantified the global economic and social contribution of this important sector.

CHINA: Hangzhou’s cultural and creative industries generated 223.21 billion yuan (US$34.88 billion) in 2015, up 20.4 percent from the prior year, according to a recent white paper from the municipal government.

THE home of the Department of Arts and Culture’s (DAC) newly established South African Cultural Observatory is strategically located in Port Elizabeth’s thriving creative hub in Central.