Summary Report - CCI Mapping - A Baseline

Overview

The DAC has developed the NRA for research across the arts, culture and heritage (ACH) sectors and the CCIs of South Africa. The NRA is an attempt by the DAC to focus its research efforts and resources towards achieving research outputs that would enhance the development of the CCIs in South Africa. It also serves to support the many policy imperatives of the DAC, as well as the South African government and its stakeholders.

Initiated by the DAC through the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy (2011), SACO is a statistical and socio-economic research project, launched in 2014, which charts the socioeconomic impact of the ACH sectors and the CCIs in South Africa. The SACO is headquartered in Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elisabeth where it is hosted by the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) on behalf of the DAC in partnership with Rhodes University and the University of Fort Hare.

As indicated in the scope of work for this study, which has been overseen by the NMU, this report is one of several others that were commissioned by SACO that are related to the DAC’s NRA and the mapping of the South African CCIs. Accordingly, the purpose of the research study is to develop an accurate and reliable baseline study pertaining to the current status of the South African CCIs, as defined in accordance with the 2009 United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO) Framework for Cultural Statistics (CSF).

The terms of reference for the mapping study specified that the five reports were primarily a desk-top study, though interviews with select stakeholders added value, where relevant. The engagement also required interaction between the different project teams (or Service Providers) involved in compiling the reports to ensure that common findings are presented in an integrated, clear and consistent manner.

The project teams were expected to make use of several primary sources for the mapping study, including UNESCO’s FCS. It is necessary at this point to touch briefly upon the main cultural categories or “domains” identified in UNESCO’s FCS, seeing as these are cited regularly throughout this document. These are:

• • Domain A: Cultural and Natural Heritage;
  • Domain B: Performance and Celebration;
  • Domain B: Visual Arts and Crafts;
  • Domain C: Books and Press;
  • Domain D: Audio-visual and Interactive Media; and,
  • Domain F: Design and Creative Services.

Other primary sources used in the mapping study include official statistics produced and published by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and the South African Reserve Bank, supplemented by figures derived from some of the research reports provided by the DAC and SACO (i.e. the 2014 DAC National Mapping Study).

The terms of reference specifically state that the primary purpose of the mapping study is to provide macro-economic findings relating to South Africa’s creative economy, as well as to provide interpretation and analysis of the data as it pertains to policy development and implementation in accordance with the 2011 National Development Plan (NDP) and other DAC policy initiatives.