Johannesburg – The Department of Arts and Culture is looking at creating a platform that will promote South African performing artists through broadcast media.
“We are looking at exposing the vast talent we have in South Africa. People in the country have not started to understand the depth of talent we have,” Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said.
The Minister held a consultation session with performing artists on Monday, which was aimed at exploring and seeking solutions on how to deal with challenges affecting the performing artists.
More than 100 performing artists attended the consultation and raised a number of challenges that they face in their careers.
During the engagements, musicians asked government to strengthen the laws in dealing with piracy as well as review the age for beneficiaries of the Living Legends Legacy Project from 70 and above to 60 years.
The Department of Arts and Culture has invested R5 million towards the project which creates opportunities for art legends to continue to have viable careers.
Other issues that were raised include payment of royalties, skills development to produce quality local content and artists asked for an increase in local content across national broadcasting platforms.
Artists also requested that the Department of Communications, the Department of Trade and Industry, as well as other government entities such as the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the Cultural Industries Federation of South Africa (CIFSA) to be included in the engagement with them.
Minister Mthethwa made a commitment to host another engagement with other role players to address the artists' concerns.
“We need to consolidate what we have started… We need to have all other partners coming on board who are key in this,” he said.
Minister Mthethwa assured artists that government will increase its support to transform the arts, culture, and heritage sector as well as increase its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In 2013, the creative industries contributed R90.5 billion to the economy and created over 500 000 direct and indirect jobs.
Minister Mthethwa said the consultations were fruitful as the performing artists made suggestions on how to tackle the challenges they faced.
The suggestions that were made would also be recognised in the revision of the 1996 White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage.
The department has held public hearings across the country to get inputs from representatives in the arts, culture and heritage sector.
The White Paper has provided the key policy framework for the department and the sector for 19 years. – SAnews.gov.za
