Many discussion panels on the repair of South Africa's cultural and creative industries repeat the familiar slogan: “Artists should take matters into their own hands.” This seems appropriate, given that this field has unique problems that are understood primarily by the people who work there. It's a special field. And to solve a problem, we need to involve those directly affected by the problem.
The reality is different. The sector cannot single-handedly resolve stagnant growth and other complex issues weighing it down. Organizations may be better able to mobilize themselves so that problems are clearly identified. However, since democracy in 1994, some of the issues require political will. These are often intertwined with different areas of public policy and cannot be controlled by departments.
The creative and cultural industries are diverse sectors that contribute to South Africa's cultural identity. These are defined in government policy documents and reports as areas such as performing arts, crafts, film, fine art, music, games, museums, libraries, architecture, design, and advertising. In 2017, the South African Cultural Observatory reported that the sector accounted for almost 7% of employment in the country. Still, there were calls from various sectors of the state for the sector to create more jobs and function better.
However, many of the problems limiting the sector's growth are not self-inflicted. These are caused by and exacerbated by the economic, political and historical environment that hinders the growth of this sector.
Sector ecology
Creative and cultural fields exist within a complex ecosystem. Its economic environment demands demand for creative and cultural outputs, including products and services. For there to be a demand, audiences need to be able to get this output, access it, and learn why it's important to them.
If demand is not nurtured, how can there be demand? Demand requires the development of audiences, the encouragement of cultural producers, and society's appreciation of its cultural materials.
And how will potential viewers access the culture if they can't afford to see it? When the economy slumps, as it has for years, employment declines. Opportunities decrease. Less employment means less disposable income and less spending on cultural goods that are not considered basic needs to be met. When cultural property is not treated as a public good, it is further emphasized that it belongs only to those who can afford it. Therefore, no matter how innovative a cultural product or service is, the conditions of demand do not depend only on the sector. Rather, they are concerned with economic vitality and the government's approach to economic policy.
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Another problem is that trade and economic policy means that, with the exception of film, small and medium-sized enterprises in this sector are taxed at the same level as those in less precarious sectors. For example, it is irrelevant for tax purposes that employment opportunities in this sector are seasonal, based primarily on the patronage of people with disposable income, and are adversely affected by other infrastructure-related shortages. Companies operating in this sector have no incentive to grow their small businesses or develop the complexity of the services they offer, even when the rare opportunity of high-wage temporary labor arrives.
South Africa's current economic policy actually encourages people in this sector to work informally and discourages them from paying direct taxes. Some research suggests that people who are self-employed in this sector do not necessarily consider their tax contributions to be beneficial. For governments, this means sector activity cannot be understood or measured, meaning economic and data management opportunities are lost.
Educational policy
Since democracy, South Africa's primary, secondary and tertiary education curricula have marginalized arts and cultural subjects. They compete with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for public investment dollars. However, culture and the arts play an important role in social and economic development. This is why some countries' educational frameworks actually adopt his STEAM rather than STEM. “A” stands for art.
With the exception of private schools and magnet schools that focus on developing professional skills in low-income areas, arts and culture subjects are taught by teachers without technical training or, in some cases, no training at all. There is a tendency to This not only makes arts and culture qualifications redundant due to lack of nuance, but also reduces employment opportunities. Therefore, the decline in employment opportunities is not caused by the creative and cultural sector, but by educational policy priorities.
Educational policy priorities also influence the demand for cultural products, meaning that their value is not or is not recognized by learners. These learners are likely to become producers and consumers of culture in the future, and their struggles will shape particular areas of society and the economy.
This situation calls into question the effectiveness of the efforts of arts and culture advocacy organizations and political institutions that emphasize the developmental role of arts and culture through and in education. The sector is not yet in a position to be recognized as providing essential public goods for all members of society.
Limited access
Access to arts and culture also means access to physical and virtual spaces. The networking that drives this field occurs in both fields. Limited investment in transport infrastructure means that spaces with cultural goods and services can only be reached by people traveling by private car rather than by sometimes dangerous public transport. To do.
And what are the implications for potential rural and peri-urban audiences? These audience development challenges are related to limited rural development, safety, and investment in public transportation infrastructure. Are they not affected by policy? These are not policies that departments can control.
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Finally, in other parts of the world, trading in cultural services and related goods has been conducted on digital platforms for more than a decade. In South Africa, only those who could afford an expensive internet connection could work this way. This limited connectivity is not an invention of the cultural and creative fields. This is due to a lack of political will to invest in accessible digital infrastructure that could have a capitalizing effect on entrepreneurship. The digital divide is driven by communications policies that do not prioritize widespread access to technological advances.
The issue of creative and cultural sector growth is thus firmly entrenched in South Africa's development agenda. The sector cannot solve its own problems in isolation from other public policies. Just as individual self-development occurs in an enabling environment, sector development is also possible in a supportive public policy space.
Enabling growth requires collaboration between governments and sectors, rather than sectors alone.
