Mail & Guardian reporters
The arts void on the box could soon be filled. SABC3, which recently axed all its arts programming in line with cost-cutting, is looking for a replacement.
The quality channel will today begin sifting through proposals from independent producers punting for the new programme. This is the first time that the industry is pitching for an arts programme and that should mean more competition, says commissioning editor Ansie Kamfer.
The initial contract is for 13 45-minute episodes aimed at a wealthy and mainly English-speaking audience. The programme will be fairly highbrow. Kamfer wants critical comment on the arts and culture scene. But it will have a strong South African bias. Eighty percent of the programming must be local content.
Kamfer hopes to have the new series up and running early next year, but in the meantime theatres have decried the absence of arts programming on television.
While it may not impact directly on audience numbers at theatres, there is a feeling that important information is being lost.
Jonathan Hurwitz of the State Theatre in Pretoria says there is a special purpose behind arts reporting. It serves the purpose of taking the arts to communities that dont have access to live theatre. And its an historical record of whats happening in our country … it serves to unify.
Matthew Krouse of Johannesburgs Market Theatre says the Independent Broadcasting Authority ruling on local content quotas for radio and television was a miracle for us, helping us into urban and suburban homes. But, he says, since programming like Arts Unlimited stopped airing, people have very little pictorial sense of what is happening. I think its shocking that there are no general arts programmes left on TV. Its uncivilised.
Murray Steyn of the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town agrees. He feels that the arts are essential: [Arts] brings peoples spirits and hearts together, as opposed to just their bodies, like sport does. He sees television as a platform for discussion about the arts. The key role of such a programme would be to help promote events and give exposure. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but unless you see it and hear it, you cant really tell what its like.
SABCs Kamfer says that recent research of arts programme watchers has shown that theatre is last on their list of things to do. Movies and music are the most popular.