The purpose of this report is to review existing documents relating to the development of a FCS for South Africa, as well as to trace the understanding and development of the scope of the cultural and creative industries in South African reports and polic
Developing a Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS) is an important first step in collecting information on, and building understanding of, the cultural and creative industries in South Africa.
The purpose of this report is to review existing documents relating to the development of a FCS for South Africa, as well as to trace the understanding and development of the scope of the cultural and creative industries in South African reports and policy documents. Using the UNESCO (2009) Framework as a starting point, the implications of excluding, or including certain categories is discussed. For example, broadening the Framework to include “creative” industries (as well as the “cultural” sector) increases the size of the sector substantially, but may move the focus away from the often smaller, more “core” industries (theatre, dance, fine art, museums etc.) towards larger, more commercial firms (advertising, architecture, design etc.).
Referring to international best practice and case studies, the paper makes recommendations about the way forward in terms of developing and testing a FCS for South Africa, with a view to the eventual development of Cultural Satellite Accounts (CSA). Some of the implications of the decisions relating to what should be included in the FCS are illustrated using the results of the DAC (2014) National Mapping Study of South African Cultural and Creative Industries.
