Strong partnerships between business and government are needed to create a sustainable arts industry
There is money to be made in the arts, but South Africa still lags behind the world in exploiting our intellectual resources, reports Anthea Garman
ARTS and culture are booming businesses worldwide. They create jobs, contribute substantially to gross domestic product (GDP), regenerate cities in decay, attract tourists to rural areas and give nations a sense of identity and pride.
Should South Africans need more evidence that there is money in the arts, the 15 international speakers at last week’s conference on the Economic Benefits of Arts and Culture hosted at the 1820 Settlers Monument by the Grahamstown Foundation produced some impressive statistics. Consider the following points.
* Fifteen percent of Morocco’s GDP comes from crafts, according to Mohammed Aid Benryane, the Moroccan ambassador.
* Six percent of GDP in Mexico comes from culture tourism, said cultural attach Aldo Aldama.
* In Britain, more people are employed in Indian restaurants than in the steel and coal industries combined. The city of Birmingham, which lost 30% of its jobs in the economic slump of the 1980s, bounced back by pouring money into the arts, creating 20 000 jobs and 250-million in income a year, according to Anthony Sargent, Birmingham’s director of arts.
* In Canada there are 670 000 jobs in arts and culture and the industry generates $22- billion for the country, said Susan Katz, director general of cultural industries.
* In Ethiopia, according to ambassador Ahmad Hassen, heritage site tourism contributes significantly to the 6% annual economic growth rate.
* In New York, foreign tourists extend their visits to take in the arts, thus generating $3-billion a year of a national tourism total of $416-billion. Festivals and arts events have saved “moribund” cities such as Charleston, Carolina and Toledo (Ohio), says Alfred Spellman, a director at the National Endowment for the Arts.
* Arts and culture contribute 3% to Australia’s GDP. Half of the Aboriginal population in rural areas live by making arts and crafts. Their work generates $36- million a year, according to Mary Travers, an Australian arts policy consultant.
* And in Grahamstown, at our very own national arts festival, R25-million in income is generated by 25000 visitors, according to an ongoing study on the festival by the Rhodes University economics department.
All of this must have been music to the ears of the government delegations from the ministries of arts and culture, trade and industry, and environmental affairs and tourism attending the conference.
Brigitte Mabandla, Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industries, made clear that both their departments want to see “cultural industries” develop into “robust and effective” engines for job creation and poverty alleviation. They want to see redistribution of the wealth created, for instance in Grahamstown, and the emergence of particular art forms which will establish South Africa as a global leader, thereby attracting foreign exchange. They want to see sustainability after an initial injection of government cash. And they want to see the private sector invest much, much more in South Africa’s diverse cultures.
All this heady talk of money and jobs threatened to obscure the fact that it really is very difficult to put a price tag on the arts. Standard Bank, sponsor of the national arts festival, represented at the conference by Andre Hamersma, will not divulge what it actually costs in rands and cents to sponsor the festival. It is also difficult to put a price on the glow given to the bank’s image as a result of its patronage.
But Mary Slack of Business Arts SA and Mexico’s Aldama warned of the danger of putting a purely monetary value on the arts. The numbers that can be added up come from the meals eaten, hotels stayed in and goods bought – quantifying the related industries rather than the arts themselves. If both business and government are going to demand sustainability from arts and culture, they might find that to be an impossible goal.
Another point of tension, pointed out by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, High Commissioner of India, is the imperialism that tends to take place when sponsors control artists. If a business is buffing its image it wants an artwork that will synergise perfectly with its marketing campaign. Many artists are rightfully very nervous of this kind of control.
“How many businesses,” he asked, “would be eager to be nameless, logo-less and ego- less in their patronage?”
Government input at the conference made clear that Africanisation and nation- building are key government requirements for any sponsorship of arts and culture.
There is also an urban/rural debate running through all this. Many cities around the world (Edinburgh, Naples, Pittsburgh) have been reclaimed from inner-city decay and crime by creating vibrant cultural enclaves that draw tourists and citizens. This raises a real concern, particularly in the Eastern Cape, that investment will be focused on the cities and that those in the rural areas who desperately depend on crafts to survive will be left on the periphery of a new revival in arts and culture.
Booms don’t just happen. If South Africa is going to learn to use arts and culture for economic growth then strong partnerships will have to be forged between artists, businesses and government.