Hazel Friedman
ART will soon stop playing the role of Oliver Twist to the public and private sector’s Mr Beadle. This is the prophesy of Dr Chris Mann, convenor of what could well be a landmark international conference on the economic benefits of arts and culture in South Africa.
A project of the Grahamstown Foundation – of which Mann is operations director – and earmarked to take place from June 11 to 13, just before the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July, the conference has already attracted some of the most visible names in both the art of business and the business of art.
The conference will be opened by Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Brigitte Mabandla. Speakers will include top-level government officials and private sector researchers with successful investment strategies in the fields of cultural economics. Also included in the illustrious line-up are delegates from the Netherlands, Morocco, Mexico, the United States, Germany, Canada, Egypt and Thailand.
Drawing on regional studies, delegates will speak about successful corporate-cultural projects in their respective countries, and ways in which these can be adapted to suit South Africa’s situation.
“The aims of the conference are to learn about the international experience of the economic benefits of arts and culture and to apply this experience in a practical, pragmatic way to this country,” says Mann.
“To do this we have to explore what funding and educational strategies are required to maximise the economic potential of culture in South Africa, publicise the findings and help equip local decision-makers with information that would enable them to make rational and productive investment decisions regarding the future of arts and culture.”
The conference is being organised at a time when the wheels of Business Arts South Africa (Basa) are starting to turn.
Established in February this year, with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki serving as honorary patron, Basa aims to pursue sponsorship money for the arts and create an informed liaison between corporate money and hungry cultural mouths.
Basa has planned a workshop during the conference to present its own objectives to arts organisations attending the sessions and to suggest ways – through proper planning, training and investment – of transforming arts and culture into a significant South African industry.
“We need to initiate a shift away from the public perception of arts and culture as a luxury, towards the realisation that it is a major job creator, urban and rural regenerator and foreign-exchange earner,” says Mann. “It’s time that South African arts and culture got rid of the begging bowl.”