The aim of this report is to use national-level data to unpack the workings of the Visual Arts and Crafts (VAC) domain, and particularly the crafts sector, from a number of angles in order to gain a better understanding of its potential for development
The Visual Arts and Craft are recognised in many countries as having the potential to create employment and contribute to GDP. The recent SACO mapping study of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in South Africa showed that the Visual Arts and Crafts Domain accounts for 53% of CCI jobs, but contributed only 8% of the GDP contribution of the CCIs. The aim of this report is to use national-level data to unpack the workings of the Visual Arts and Crafts (VAC) domain, and particularly the crafts sector, from a number of angles in order to gain a better understanding of its potential for development and the constraints faced by the sector.
The results show that the VAC domain does provide opportunities for the employment of women and youth, but it is more male dominated than other CCI domains, especially in terms of young women. Earnings in the VAC domain are generally lower than in other CCI domains, especially for women, which supports other studies that claim that the sector is more of a “survivalist” livelihoods strategy. However, especially for rural women with lower levels of education, and few alternatives, there may also be other nonmarket (social and independence) benefits related to working in this domain.
38.4% of workers in the VAC domain are freelance (own account workers with no employees, with high levels of informality, again especially for women: 53.1% of women in VAC are freelance. Younger workers in VAC, however, tend to have slightly lower levels of informality than older workers, which may indicate a positive change. 60.4% of VAC workers are in the informal sector. As found in previous studies, provinces with larger metropolitan areas (Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal) have a larger share of workers in the VAC domain. However, there is also some potential in more rural provinces if links to markets and tourists can be made.
The VAC domain also contributes significantly to transformation objectives: 82.4% of people in VAC occupations are black Africans, 10.9% coloured, 1.2% Asian/Indian, and 5.6% white. Firm-level analysis also showed that they scored well on other transformation goals, such as having a black African, coloured or Asian/Indian owner (63%), at least one female owner (58%) and at least one youth owner (27%). However, findings also confirmed the generally low levels of formal education amongst VAC workers: 46.5% had not completed secondary school, and less than 10% had any form of tertiary education (compared to 23.9% of those in cultural occupations overall).
The VAC domain appears in a number of government policies, strategies and plans, and identifies many of the challenges found in this research and possible interventions. However, the new Revised White Paper on Arts and Culture (2018) has only a very small section on the sector and little in the way of sector-specific policies. To take advantage of the opportunities related to tourism and the growth in VAC domain exports, a coherent and wellimplemented strategic approach for the sector is needed that would focus on empowering the mostly micro-enterprises in the sector to move up the value chain.
