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Mthethwa calls on SA businesses to work with artists

Nathi Mthethwa
Photo by Duane Daws
Nathi Mthethwa

26th May 2015

By: Sane Dhlamini
Creamer Media Senior Contributing Editor and Researcher

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Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa on Tuesday called on South African businesses to work with artists to increase competition in the industry.

Mthethwa was addressing the third Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) breakfast in Johannesburg.

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The breakfast was supported by Standard Bank with the aim of focusing on the arts as a progressive and valuable enabler for businesses engaging on the continent.

However, Mthethwa addmitted there were still significant challenges facing the art industry, including a lack of collaboration in the sector.

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BASA CEO Michelle Constant said, meanwhile, that  through art, communities were brought together, and tourism and business opportunities were created.

She said the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa were an opportunity for art to show the importance of engagement and collaboration across the continent as the arts offered an excellent opportunity to drive collaborative and co-creative projects.

Samuel Mensah, founder and CEO of KISUA, an innovative digital platform offering exclusive contemporary African fashion online, concurred, saying Africa was blessed with a billion people with thousands of languages and ethnic groups "who had amazing stories to tell". He said as Africans we "need to do an introspection and see how we can define a new path for the African community," saying it was time for Africans to start telling their stories through art, much the same as his company was doing through fashion.

Mthethwa added that art increased the intangible values in society as “it spoke to the soul and stimulated intellectual capacity.” It was for this reason, Mthethwa said, that the Department of Arts and Culture was working hard to assist young artists to be sustainable.

He reiterated that his department was also working closely with the Department of Basic Education in an effort to increase the number of schools offering art as a subject.
 
“Art adds some 2.9% to South Africa’s gross domestic product. We need to use every avenue to promote it,” said Mthethwa.

He reminded delegates that the National Development Plan speaks of how arts and culture can open powerful spaces for debate about where a society finds itself and where it is going.

“Promoted effectively, the creative and cultural industries can contribute substantially to small business development, job creation and urban development and renewal," he said.

The department was currently looking at the establishment of creative incubators, the launch of the Venture Capital Fund Initiative and providing tax incentives for businesses that contribute to the arts. 

He applauded Standard Bank, sponsor of the BASA breakfast, for assisting government in promoting art and reliably partnering with government to increase awareness of the benefit of the arts in business.

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