Create SA National Skill Audit Questionnaire

The HSRC and Create SA worked in a partnership to administer a questionnaire for the National Skills Audit. The National Skills Audit is part of a project commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Labour’s National Skills Fund (specifically the MAPPP SETA). The questions focused on Information Management and Communication and asked detailed questions about how organisations/companies keep abreast of developments in the Arts and Culture sector and their capacity to manage information about themselves and the sector.

In the four months of the survey, we were able to complete 21 interviews. We contacted 45 organisations, we found 8 organisations/companies that no longer existed and a few that did not complete and return the questionnaires after the interviews (14 organisations/ companies). Each interview varied as each organization that we visited was inherently different. What made these interviews great was the people we encountered, the people on the ground that are busy doing the work – not for any huge monetary gain, but rather for the passion they feel for Arts and Culture. They were willing to engage with the questionnaire and the issues it brought up.

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The Economics of Culture & Cultural Statistics in South Africa

The realisation that culture plays a vital role in areas as divers as understanding economic performance and development and individual behaviour patterns has led to social scientists searching for appropriate indicators of culture in an economy. This paper tries to define culture and then explore the arguments about why culture is important. Different cultural characteristics that either positively or negatively affects economic growth are then briefly touched on. Unfortunately data is scarce and fragmented in South Africa, so we take a look at the quality of existing cultural statistics in South Africa as well as the potential indicators of culture’s contribution to an economy. Hoping to learn from others who have faced these same problems before, international experience is examined and conclusions and recommendations are finally drawn.

A survey of research outputs for the South African Music, Craft, Film and Television and Publishing sectors between 1997 and 2002.

A body of mostly unpublished research literature for the cultural sectors in South Africa has emerged since the formation of the new democratic government. The bulk of this research has been carried out or commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture. The research aims to fundamentally define and assess a previously under-researched area and provide a way forward for government and the various players in the cultural sectors.
The reports vary in content and style. While some profile the sectors, others report on meetings, policy developments and so forth. We also see one or two international papers, which offer best-practice advice for specific sectors. Generally, the idea behind most of the reports was to produce elementary but necessary information on the cultural sectors.

This report is a survey of the literature that has emerged out of that research for the Music, Craft, Film and Television and Publishing sectors. It does not replicate any data; instead it introduces the reader to what has been done so far. It can be used as a guide by prospective researchers before systematically going through the documents themselves.

NATIONAL SKILLS & RESOURCES AUDIT 2003

The National Skills and Resources Audit 2003 was initiated by CREATE SA in order to create a statistical benchmark for the creative industries that would assist with the planning, design and implementation of training initiatives. The objective of the research was two-fold, to map the creative industries, providing a statistical picture of the scale and developmental dynamics of the sector and to assess skills needs. In partnership with strategic partners such as the National Film and Video Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the survey was dropped in March 2003.

A survey questionnaire was faxed, posted and e-mailed to 7 500 creative industries organizations and businesses. CREATE SA received 558 (9.3%) viably completed questionnaires and just over 1 500 were returned with invalid addresses. A second component of the Audit comprised in-depth interviews with businesses and organizations across all sectors.

CREATE SA would like to thank all survey and interview participants for giving so generously of their time.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES – THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBALISATION

The paper takes as its point of departure the work of the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP) and the progress made in the working group on cultural diversity and globalisation. It does this from the perspective of a developing country isolating both what the development priorities are as well as the status of cultural sectors in developing countries and how these interact. Having identified these it offers proposals for an instrument that would enhance the ability of developing countries to realise their cultural policy objectives. The paper highlights the critical issues for South Africa’s Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) opening address to the INCP October Summit, entitled: ‘Cultural Diversity and Developing Countries – the challenges of globalisation’.

LEGAL AND FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FOR SAFEGUARDING OUR INTANGIBLE HERITAGE

.In this paper, we have thus focused on providing an insight into some of the debates around the definition and management of intangible heritage, and on giving examples of legal and financial instruments that could help to safeguard it. Future work should couple a multi-lingual analysis of the global heritage legislation not covered in this paper, with an in-depth series of national studies that examine the way in which the historical, cultural and economic situation of a country, and its current legislative environment, affects the identification and safeguarding of their intangible heritage. Only through such an in-depth study can the impact on the safeguarding of intangible heritage of a variety of legal and financial instruments (not just those specifically designed to safeguard intangible heritage) be properly assessed. Particular emphasis should be placed on identifying financial incentives for safeguarding intangible heritage. More detailed recommendations can then be made for the improvement of international or regional instruments and the development of a suitable approach to the safeguarding of intangible heritage at a national level.

GETTING A MEASURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN BOOK INDUSTRY

Useful and reliable statistical data on the South African book publishing and book selling industry is not readily available. In the past, the Publishers' Association of South Africa (PASA) made several efforts to conduct surveys of the local book trade, but the results were so incomplete that no reliable picture could emerge; the government did not keep track of contextualised book publishing statistics either. The South African National Bibliography provides some statistics of value, but it is primarily organised as a tool for librarians and its inclusiveness limits its use as a source for book industry statistics. In recent years the importance of statistical information on the book industry has been noted by various role-players. Given the above, it was agreed by the members of PASA and SABA that the Information Science Department of the University of Pretoria would be contracted (as an independent and non-profit research institution) to undertake an exploratory Snapshot Industry Survey. The objective of this survey was to provide a broad overview of the shape and size of the local book industry during 2002.