JOHANNESBURG - The cultural and creative industries offer opportunities to unemployed youth, according to KZN Department of Arts and Culture (KZNDAC) spokesperson, Phathisa Mfuyo.
Opportunities in the music, television and film sectors are labour absorptive.
“It is not novel that most of the artists hail from KZN and migrate to Johannesburg for greener pastures, but because of the advent of the KZN Music House they are starting to roll back to KZN,” Mfuyo said.
"The music industry has become an absorptive sector followed by film and television. The province has built the state of the arts facility called KZN Music House as well as the KZN Film Commission.
"These institutions provide support to aspirant musicians, film and television producers and actors,” said Mfuyo.
The first global map of the cultural and creative industries, which was recently released, acknowledged the societal value of arts and culture. Through this mapping study conducted in 2014 it showed that the industries had created between 162 809 and 192 410 jobs, about 1.08 percent to 1.28percent of employment in the country, which contribute 2.9percent to
South Africa's gross domestic product.
Mfuyo said the challenge South Africa faced was the process of building the nation out of a vast cultural and economic legacy of difference and inequality. “Arts and culture 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, urban development and renewal.”
The report of the Mzansi’s Golden Economy, produced by the National Department, sets out ways in which the arts, culture and heritage sectors can contribute to the growth and development of South Africa's economy.
Mfuyo said part of the strategy involved activities such as arts festivals, touring ventures, public art projects as well as engagement in the cultural and creative industries to create employment.
The department said it has established a number of community art centres in the different districts to provide opportunities for participation in the arts, to create employment and to provide cultural enrichment.
These multi-purpose community art centres also offer various arts and cultural programmes and provide a space for craft development, sewing, rehearsals and other things.