While developed countries are ecstatic about the opportunities presented by the digital era, developing countries are in a panic, induced by anticipated massive job losses and a deepening digital divide. The fears are entirely justified. But we need to recognise that technology is a product of workers and accordingly workers should take ownership of it.
The perception that the digital era is elitist must be shattered and knowledge and technology must be appropriated and directed towards improving the lives of all citizens. In addition to enabling us to apply technology to enhance the accessibility, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of public services; digital transformation also provides an opportunity to review our thinking on the role of the arts and making it a fundamental pillar of job creation.
As routine work gets taken over by automation and artificial intelligence, and big data analytics becomes hegemonic in decision-making; non-routine work will increase in prominence. Not all people have the acumen to excel in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Preparing for the future requires that we value the social contribution of human creativity beyond that of a commodity and appreciate the role of the creative arts sector in society as a whole.
Currently, only the aspects of art that have been commercialised are fully valued; and only artists who are publicised are idealised. Worse is the false notion of art and culture being bourgeois. The works that make it to publishers, galleries, theatres and cinemas are packaged as unaffordable luxuries that can only be accessed and enjoyed by the monied; yet music, dance and story-telling are integral parts of our everyday lives and social activities. The time has come for the arts to be elevated and developed as a serious socio-economic sector.
More literature needs to be published; more artworks need to be exhibited; community theatre needs to be supported; street dancing should be formalised and choreographers recognised; local music needs to be celebrated; and pottery and crafts need to be meliorated. Other traditional uses of the arts such as the absorption of architects and artists in ongoing urban planning and in the design of parks, museums, historic sites and statues; participation of dancers, musicians and poets in national events; interior decorating; and generating content for the advertising, theatrical, television and film industries, remain important. But those areas do not mark the boundaries of the contributions of the arts.
The possibilities for development in this sector are limitless as the digital era opens up further space for the utilisation of the arts. Aggrandisation has become an important aspect of human evolution and the arts fill that quest for all things refined, including the novelties accompanying technological expansion. Artists play a critical role in determining the aesthetics and acoustics of 3-D displays, holograms, virtual reality settings, robotics, e-learning platforms, games, animations and website and mobile application designs.
The full potential of the sector, however, can only be realised once government identifies it as a priority and gives it the support that it needs. Art is important both as a subject of education as well as a form of education. Training in visual art, music and dance should be regarded as equally important subjects as history, geography, mathematics, science and technology. Likewise, as we move towards digitised learning methods, the arts must be used to ensure that the material is presented in a manner that learners would find appealing. Our education system needs to be adapted to enable a greater role for the creative arts.
The sector also needs to be presented as a viable way to earn a decent living. More public resources need to be invested in industries in the sector across their value-chains and matrices. Furthermore, government needs to regulate the sector to protect artists from exploitation, including the adverse copy-right violations that might come with the digital era. By ploughing significant resources into this sector, it will be possible to effectively benefit from technology, art and culture beyond that of them being commodities for individual gain and gratification by making it central to the psychological, social and economic wellbeing for the nation.
* Reneva Fourie is a policy analyst specialising in governance, development and security.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.