The focus of this Research Report is an evaluation of the DAC MGE funded Miscellaneous Arts Projects category.
The South African Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) embarked on a strategy to reposition the arts, culture and heritage sector to address social cohesion, creation of sustainable jobs and ensuring social and economic development. The Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) was launched in 2011 to unlock the South African cultural economy by making strategic investments to optimise the economic benefit of the Arts and to enhance the sector’s global competitiveness. An evaluation of the sub-categories of the cultural events that receive funding as part of the MGE programme was conducted, including the Miscellaneous Arts Projects the focus of this fifth report.
Miscellaneous Arts Projects (which includes Community Arts Centres funded events/ activities) is a MGE category that makes provision for limited investments in the costs of high impact small projects, productions and community cultural groups not accommodated in the other four DAC MGE workstreams (Provincial and National Flagships, Festivals and Events, Touring Ventures and Public Arts). It focuses particularly on theatre, dance and art (with training programmes only considered under specific circumstances) which need to meet the overall DAC MGE objectives. The evaluation is based on an analysis of 40 Miscellaneous Arts Projects (which includes Community Arts Centres funded events/ activities) of which 14 were interviewed and also included documentary analysis of all the initiatives where contracts and reports were available. In this report, Miscellaneous Arts is used to refer to this category.
Different levels of funding were received and ranged from R50 000 to R4 460 000 with an average of R475 693. In terms of the spatial distribution, these events/ activities were hosted in all nine provinces with the most dominant provinces being Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The results show that organisers have been involved with planning the event/ activity only for a few years, thus increased opportunities are being created to expose more organisations and persons involved in showcasing the arts, especially within local communities.
The Miscellaneous Arts events/ activities focused mainly on community-based events/ activities that promoted the arts, targeting mostly schools and local communities. The different types, sizes and spatial/ geographical spread of the events/ activities in this category indicate that the DAC MGE programme is meeting the broader objective of contributing to increased diversity of cultural offerings. The slight bias of Gauteng in this DAC MGE category and dominance in other categories is of concern and the spatial distribution across the provinces, especially those with larger rural footprints, need to be addressed. Thus, this suggests that more can be done to ensure a spatial spread across South Africa, especially in relation to the DAC MGE objective of promoting the arts, cultural and heritage sector in rural areas.
Most of the Miscellaneous Arts are still emerging, with one exception of an international event. It is important to note that the organisation that received funding for this event only did so to participate in the event rather than actually be involved in its organisation. In terms of the objective to enhance quality of productions, organisers have noted how the DAC MGE funding has permitted them to improve the quality of the event/ activity.
With an average of 4 persons being employed on a permanent basis in the organisation who worked with the DAC MGE funded event/ activity and given that 40 events/ activities were funded by the Miscellaneous Arts programme, 160 permanent jobs are associated with this programme.
The main areas people were employed in were related to enhancing skills development in the creative and cultural sector which is one of the objectives of the DAC MGE programme. Additionally, there is a focus on youth which is a key objective as well.
Not many additional persons were employed; of those employed it was primarily of a short-term nature - temporary/ casual basis for a day, a week, month and more than a month. In relation to gender disaggregation, slightly more females than males are employed. In terms of historical racial groups among the additional persons employed, these were mostly African who worked mainly for a day or a week. Moreover, the results indicate that DAC MGE objectives of focusing on locally-based job creation and opportunities, in addition to skills development, in the creative and cultural industry is evident. These events/ activities are further supporting livelihoods as intended by the DAC MGE, with locally-based employees, service providers and stallholders being used as these events and activities. Thus, in terms of broader transformational imperatives, the DAC MGE programme seems to be effective in targeting females, Africans as well as locals.
However, of concern is that very few of the jobs associated with the Miscellaneous Arts category is permanent in nature and are temporary/ casual employment which is generally relatively high in the arts, culture and heritage sector when persons are mainly employed for the duration of the event or activity. Furthermore, most temporary/ casual employees are in lower paying jobs. This suggests that there remains high levels of vulnerability in the sector which is important to address in terms of the DAC MGE intervention strategies to address historical economic disadvantage and sustainable job creation as the DAC MGE intends to focus on.
It is apparent that audiences throughout the country are being exposed to different types and genres of events/ activities which is one of the objectives of the programme. However, the audience numbers for local/ national events are relatively low in comparison to the international event, thus more needs to be done in terms of audience development. As is the case with the rest of the DAC MGE categories, disaggregated information on the attendees is not available thus it is not possible to examine audience diversity. Furthermore, it is necessary to enhance media tracking to expose the arts, culture and heritage sector to a broader audience in order to achieve the DAC MGE goal of increasing the audience and exposure that each event/ activity receives.
Miscellaneous Arts projects are contributing to addressing social issues which is a key component of the DAC MGE programme. However, it is of concern to note that these events/ activities are generally unable to secure additional sponsorships underscoring the significant reliance on public funding. The timeous release of funding was raised as a concern which also impacts on the future sustainability of these events/ activities.
