Early in the Creative Cnergy Policy and Investment Symposium, held in Sandton on 3 September, Unathi Lutshaba of the South African Cultural Observatory put forward a number that gave the day its economic weight: South Africa's creative and sports industries together are worth about 271bn rand ($17bn) and support 1.4m jobs. Professor Pitika Ntuli, artist and cultural thinker, then asked "what happens when a people's memory becomes an economy?"
The figure matters because it moves creativity into conversations where economic weight determines who gets heard. Creative Cnergy was asking government and business to recognise creativity as a living cultural force through which a nation remembers itself, imagines its future and creates material value.
By the end of the day, what had initially seemed like separate concerns were pointing to the same deeper problem. South Africa has institutions that can fund a project, approve an incentive or protect copyright.
But what repeatedly fails is the handover from one responsibility to the next. An artist may secure early funding and then have no clear route to the next stage.
Originally published by African Business.