EDUCATION IN THE ARTS

Yesterday, I accompanied a friend to the Theater and Dance Indaba conference that took place at Museum Africa in Newtown, Johannesburg's cultural precinct. Sibongile Khumalo was the program director for this event. The main speakers were members of organisations such as the Arts and Culture Council, the Department of Arts and Culture and the newly born Business and Arts of South Africa (BASA) NGO. When the speaker from BASA spoke, I was so interested to hear what she had to say, particularly because Anriette Chorn, SAMRO’s music education officer, mentioned that she attended the BASA awards recently. The attendees of the Theatre and Dance Indaba were mainly theatre and dance practitioners whose main concern was the issue of inadequate funding for the arts. There was a question and answer session whereby a discussion around these issues was implemented.

Although it was by default, I’m glad I attended this event because I was able to get a sense of artists’ experiences and concerns at grassroots levels. The main problems that were communicated were the limited budget allocation for the arts by the South African government. Artistic practitioners were also concerned about the supposed inefficiency of synergy between the South African government’s arts and culture policy, its provincial and local arts organisations. Another major concern was the ‘dying’ capacity and ineffective management of community arts projects that are meant to foster nation building and encourage solidarity in communities. I then remember the xenophobic attacks that have scarred our image as South Africans. Could the government perhaps be underestimating the value of the arts and their ability to build and strengthen the character of South Africans? The NGO representatives argued that the onus is upon musicians to take themselves seriously and stop acting like victims.

Although the scarcity of funds is an issue, one of BASA’s objectives is to assist musicians in forming business relationships with the corporate business sector. BASAs concern was that artists hardly sell themselves- probably due to a lack of understanding the marketing skills required. The SETAs were said to be less than useful when it comes to educating artists about their industry. I then wonder why these skills cannot be accumulated from the time we are at high school level. Quality education then becomes an imperative for artists because it challenges our artistic intellectuality and personal discipline. I believe that there should be a stronger implementation of the arts' industry business education in all of South Africa’s public schools. I think that the quality of music we produce will thus be elevated and therefore increase our status as South Africans.