No more ‘lip-service’ govt promises the arts

By Andrew Mulenga

Germain Gamiet, Mulenga Kapwepwe
and Keith Mukata

The National Arts Council of Zambia (NAC) last week hosted a “first of its kind” business breakfast at Mika Hotel in Lusaka, with the intention of creating a platform for dialogue between government, the corporate community and the arts fraternity.

While the arts fall under the Ministry of Chiefs Affairs in the present government, NAC instead resolved to call uponthe Minister of Commerce Trade and Industry, Robert Sichinga as guest of honorto explain the government ‘s vision ­­for developing the arts sector as a contributor to national wealth and employment creation. Sichinga however was unable to attend and instead, deputy minister Keith Mukata took his place.

NAC also invited a number of business executives to the mining sector to attend in the hope that the government would encourage them to take up a role in collaborating with and supporting the arts to mutual benefit.

On behalf of government, the deputy minister emphasized the importance that needed to be attached to the development of the arts.

“In fact this meeting could not have come at a better time than now, for a long time the arts sector in this country has only received lip service, with artistes struggling on their own, with little or no support,”he said “The PF government is in a hurry to develop the country and we intend to do so in all sectors, including the arts”.

Addressing the meeting, he advised members of the business community that investing in the arts can be a very lucrative business. He pointed to the Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood film industries as some good examples of how the creative industry can not only create revenue and contribute to a nation’s economy, but that the sector can also be viewed as a nation’s flag carrier.

“I am aware that some foreign companies in Zambia spend a lot of money promoting their corporate image using foreign artistes to create TV and radio advertisements. If we invest in ourartistes, this can change” said Mukata “The truth is that companies will always depend on the arts to promote their corporate image, we should therefore get involved in the sectors development”

He added that PF was well aware of the challenges Zambian artistes were facing and thanked them for continuing to remain resilient.

“I believe it is now time to put resources which can help transform the sector into one that will create wealth and employment,” he said “It is also the PFs intention to continue supporting institutions like NAC so that they can carry on giving direction in the promotion of the arts.”

He said government will strive to create a conducive and attractive environment for investing in the individual artiste and the creative sector as a whole.

“The ministry of commerce trade and industry through the patents and companies registration agency has formulated a national intellectual property policy aimed at encouraging investors, inventors, innovators and creators to work diligently knowing well that their works will not only give them benefits in form of recognition and royalties but also contributing to national development,” said Mukata.

And officiating at the function, NAC Chairperson Mulenga Kapwepwestressed that it was about time artistes learned how to interface with government and the business community and that the breakfast meeting was just the beginning of this process.

 “We artistes also realized that we don’t know how to speak to the business people in an effective way for mutual benefit of both parties. So we thought we better start talking”, said Kapwepwe.

Opinion

The three-way relationship that NAC intends to foster vis-a-vis arts-governments-corporate is all but none existent in Zambia; in fact regime after regime, corporate and public support of the arts has consistently plummeted.But following the deputy minister’s remarks it would be important for artistes to therefore put government under the spotlighton how they will implement supporting of the arts sector, even if it means using the newly formulated national intellectual property policy.

As the deputy minister emphasised in his own words that the arts sector has been “lip-serviced” for too long, artistes should not relax but take government on, and one only hopesMukata’swords were not merely a continuation of the “lip-service” he so much criticised.

Nevertheless economic and creative landscapes such as South Africa, however enjoy a much more profound relationship between government, the arts and business houses, with almost all the major banks owning large art collections or sponsoring arts prizes and festivals.

Of course the South African corporate and arts landscape dwarfs that of Zambia, and it (South Africa) has policy white papers in favour of the arts that Zambian’s for now can only dream of.But in Zambia too there is obviously room for the business community to support the arts. Just as well NAC invited Germaine Gamiet from Business Arts South Africa (BASA)a nonprofit company whose primary aim is to promote mutually beneficial and sustainable business-arts partnership that will benefit society as a whole to the indaba.

Gamiet made a presentation on the working relationship between the South African business sector, government, artistesand civil society. He also highlighted the economic, financial and corporate social responsibility benefits the South African business sector enjoys through sponsorship and support to arts programmes.

It is not clear whether NAC intends to follow the South African model and formulate a ‘Business Arts Zambia’ that will see CEOs sitting on a board for the arts, however, the breakfast meeting is aching for a follow-up in which NAC can suggest an arts calendar or possible areas of partnership and support to the Zambian business community.During the meeting Finance Bank Executive Director, Corporate , Retail Banking and Marketing - Helen Lundaraised the issue of corporates being interested in supporting the arts but not knowing where, or how to direct the funding, and rightfully so.Following the high profile breakfast it would be good to see less formalmeetings where business executives can meet the actual artiste and not the arts administrator can meet in an indaba to share and brainstorm on the possibilities of investment and support of the arts by having the executives meet face to face with the artists in their own territory.

All in all, with a government that is declaring no more “lip-service” towards the arts, it is an opportunity for NAC to entice them and the corporate sector to support the now shambolic Ngoma Awards, which according to sources could not take place last year because of resources, political will and uncertaintywithin the ranks of the arts council as they had no clue to which side the political hammer will fall late last year. Winning an art award should be a life changing momentboth inspirationally and financially, the prize money given to artistes for the Ngomas being about K1.5m is nothing short of a joke. With proper coaxing of business houses and government, an artiste should be able to walk home with at least a K50m cash prize. For now, nonetheless it appears the ball is in NAC’s court.

Africa’s share of global arts economy less than 1%

Executive Director of the African Arts Institute and
Arterial Network secretary general Mike van Graan
speaking in Nairobi - (Pictures courtesy Thabiso Mashaba)

By Andrew Mulenga

The first conference on the African Creative Economy which took place in Nairobi recently was attended by more than 120 delegates representing 36 countries.
Running from December 4 to 7, the conference interrogated arguments such as "Assessing markets in the global south", "The contribution of the creative economy to African cities and the potential for an African creative cities network", The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): development, culture and the creative industries and Reducing dependency among other things.
Organised by the Arterial Network,  a continental network of artists, cultural activists, arts NGOs,  the event was the first of what is planned as an annual conference that rotates from region to region. The Conference also coincided with the election of a new continental steering committee for Arterial seeing Ghana's Korkor Amarteifio take over the reigns from Zambia's Mulenga Kapwepwe.
Highlighting the purpose for having such a conference to start with, Arterial Network Secretary general Mike van Graan, who is also executive director of the African Arts Institute based in Cape Town observed "By understanding the creative economy, we as artists hope to understand how our creative practice may be more sustainable, how we might generate the income we need to pay our rent, put bread on the table, prepare for our old age, etc."
In a presentation entitled "The creative economy, development, culture, human rights and democracy in Africa: joining the dots", van Graan stated "There are at least five possible answers as to why a conference on the creative economy should be held in the first place, and those are Economic, Developmental, Political, Strategic/advocacy and Sustainability".
On Economy he stated: "Over the last 30 years, the creative industries have made major contributions to national and regional economies in the global north with Japan, the USA, China, the UK and Germany accounting for more than 50 per cent of global exports in the creative sector. With Africa’s share of global trade at just over 2 per cent and its share of the global creative economy at below 1 per cent, the creative industries are promoted as areas of potentially huge growth that will boost Africa’s global trade position. And yet, we have to ask: if the creative industries are such major contributors to economic growth and job creation in the north, why is the sector facing such dramatic cuts in Europe at the moment?"
As for development, van Graan observes on a more positive note that the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals - most relevant to Africa - is fast approaching and the creative economy is being advanced as a key contributor to the economic growth believed to be necessary to realise the MDGs.
On his third and political assessment he observes that: "Embedded in creative products are ideas, world views, aesthetics and values so that as primary importers and consumers of television, movies, literature, music, etc, we in Africa imbibe these, assuming the values, aesthetics and perspectives of others, thereby eroding our own identities and cultural traditions in the process. Thus are we challenged to project our perspectives into the global market of ideas, to have a creative voice that will speak our stories, assert our perspectives, share our values through creative products."
On strategy and advocacy, he observes that "given the lack of support for the arts by African governments who generally deem it a luxury in the context of other development or vote-catching needs, we in the arts community believe that by showing the economic impact of the arts, politicians will be better disposed towards investing in the arts."
In conclusion, van Graan states given the conditions on the African continent, the challenges with regard to development, the challenges of democracy and human rights, the challenges of poverty and inequity, Africa's starting point, in his view, should not be economic growth or development, but rather human rights and freedoms, and a pursuit of creative industries and the creative economy should be to serve human rights and freedom, rather than have these fundamental rights subservient to economic growth.

Arts should fall under tourism ministry - Kausa

By Andrew Mulenga

Seasoned critic and contemporary Zambian art historian, Roy Kausa, has called on the new government to place support of the arts under the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism rather than the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs.

Art critic Roy Kausa is also condemned the
rebranding of the Zambia tourism logo and slogan

"I am appealing to government to quickly consider the arts to fall under the tourism ministry. Then with the help of stakeholders the ministry can identify which people can sit on the National Arts Council from the various arts disciplines," said Kausa in an interview early this week "The minister of tourism should call a meeting where the creative community can sit down and map a way forward otherwise I see no future for the arts if they fall under the ministry of chiefs and traditional rulers, because tourism as well as art is dynamic. Let culture related issues be handled by the chiefs and other traditional rulers"
Kausa also argues that disunity, modest education and a general lack of seriousness within the ranks of the arts fraternity has been detrimental to the advancement of the arts since Zambia's independence.
"Let me amplify on this one, first of all let me say for the past 47 years, Zambian artists have not been sincere with themselves, sincere in the sense that we are probably the only country in the sub-region without proper academic education in the arts and lack of serious recognition from government," he said, also highlighting what he observed as anomalies within the creative and tourism sectors early this year.

Fally Ipupa

"Look at what happened recently in the previous government. If we (the arts fraternity) had fallen under a serious ministry. I don't think the ministry would have allowed the Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) to allow a foreign musician to come and be the face of a re launch or help rebrand Zambia's tourism slogan," argues Kausa "Even if you look at the new logo 'Let's Explore' for me thats a national disaster. I'm also appealing to the minister of tourism to investigate what happened, how did they change from our beautiful logo 'Zambia The  Real Africa'. I know there was a lot of money that ended up in the pockets of whoever came up with this funny idea."
Early this year Congolese Rhumba star Fally Ipupa performed at Lusaka’s Taj Pamodzi Hotel to launch the new ZTB brand under the slogan ‘Zambia: Let’s Explore’, much to the displeasure of local artists, prominent among them Maiko Zulu, Chairman of Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM) who expressed great disappointment by ZTB’s decision to sideline Zambian artistes.
Ironically, as much as the likes of Kausa, Zulu and local artistes at large may show disappointment at ZTB's invitation of a Congolese artist to 'rebrand' Zambia, the ZTB marketing gimmick seems to have done quite well if this year’s Zambia Institute of Marketing awards are anything to go by. "Let’s Explore" has been nominated in the Best Brand Marketing Campaign of The Year and the Board itself has been nominated for the "Best Product Launch Of The Year".
Nevertheles, back to  Kausa, he had no kind words for the National Arts Council's and the Ngoma Awards, saying they need an entire revamp.

The new tourism logo as launched
by Congolese artiste Fally Ipupa 

"For years now, the National Arts Council has lost direction that is why arts bodies have collapsed. I therefore find it prudent that honourable Given Lubinda an artist  himself should take up the arts under his ministry it would be easier for him to identify which leaders in the arts who can provide a formidable arts council as it was under Mumba Kapumpa's leadership. Kapumpa worked closely with people who had a vision... like Martin Phiri for the visual arts and Webster Malama in music... in fact what's what made things work not just because he is brother K," he explains "And the giving of awards to artists of late has been a big joke. These are just events for people to come together to drink and eat, what should be done is at least after every two years the NAC works closely with the business community. Giving an artiste K1.5m is a joke, imagine converting that to dollars, its peanuts. First prize should be something like K100 million per prize. It’s supposed to be a life-changing moment to win a national award."
Kausa says what artists need first of all is unity so that even the government can recognise them as partners and not the 'beggars' that they have been for the past 50 years or so.
Kausa has written critically on the arts for over three decades and has contributed to publications such as the Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka Lowdown and The Zambian Traveller. He has also written several exhibition catalogues and has played the role of curator. Kausa sits on the board of the Lechwe Arts Trust.

The old tourism logo

Kausa's cry evidently comes from the fact that the Zambian creative fraternity have for a long time felt orphaned as they have been handed over from ministry to ministry since Zambia's independence.
Public grants to support the sector are as good as non-existent. The National Arts Council (NAC),  a statutory body governed by an Act of Parliament is supposed to oversee such support. By definition, its role is as clear as it was formulated to mediate, regulate and provide technical support needs to artists of various back-grounds and forms. On the practical front, NAC is grossly underfunded, disenfranchised and not as organised as well as it should have been.
Current statistics show that NAC – which is also the mother body of the Visual Arts Council – has regrettably not lived up to its own mission statement - "To facilitate the development, promotion and nurturing of all forms of amateur and professional arts practice countrywide".
As a cultural entity it competes for funding with several other cultural bodies, and as a governing body its core areas of patronage have been divided across several line ministries. This has not made its work any easier. Ironically these are problems that the previous government itself acknowledged by means of a disclaimer in its National Cultural Policy (2003, p6):

"2.7 Administration and Co-ordination of Cultural Affairs. The Cultural Sector cuts across a number of line ministries such as: 
a) The Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (under which the Department of Cultural services and the National Arts Council of Zambia fall); 
b) The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services (under which Zambia Music Copyright Protection Society and film and cinema administration fall); 
c) The Ministry of Tourism (under which the National Museum Board and National Heritage Conservation Commission Falls);
d) The Ministry of Local Government and Housing (under which the administration of Chiefs falls); e) The Ministry of Science Technology and Vocational Training (under which the training of artists in col- leges falls); 
f) The Ministry of Home Affairs (under which the national Archives falls).
The above scenario raises the problem of co-ordination for effective and efficient delivery of cultural services to the nation."

It is under this gloom and neglect that fleeting subsistence from foreign granting bodies and embassies provide a glimmer of support. Under the PF, some of the ministries mentioned here may have been merged or scrapped all together. Nevertheless even as the new government settles in, there still seems no clarity or clear-cut policy that has been adopted to foster the arts industry vis-a-vis Zambia’s creative economy.