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Tolerance,
understanding and diversity are celebrated in the arts, giving Johannesburg the
means to explore its multicultural heritage.
THE
mosaic of migrant labourers who descended upon Johannesburg, a sprouting shanty
mining town in the 19th century, brought with them their diverse cultures and social
backgrounds. They came looking for jobs, and ended up finding solace in the
city from their mundane rural homesteads.
Young residents celebrate their heritage
Since
then, the 123-year-old Johannesburg has become a throbbing cosmopolitan city,
the heartbeat of South Africa's economy. It is densely populated by
professionals, labourers, artists and others, who together drive its fortunes.
Joburgers
of today, like those of yesteryear, contribute to the city's cultural
diversity, thriving economy and arts, culture, heritage and history, which are
all central to the development of the entire country.
But
what significant role can arts and culture play in such a cosmopolitan city as
Johannesburg, especially with regard to forging social cohesion and camaraderie
and inspiring its assorted peoples to embrace their differences? This
question, and others like it, were discussed at the fourth triennial World
Summit on Arts and Culture
(WSoAC),
which was hosted in Newtown, Joburg's cultural precinct, in September 2009. The
summit attracted about 400 delegates from across the globe.
They
explored complex ways in which the arts could foster dialogue between
multicultural communities. And at how Johannesburg could dismantle its social and
cultural bridges to embrace diversity.
Challenge
Themed "Meeting of cultures: creating meaning through the arts", the summit was
tailored to provide insight, stimulate debate, alter thinking patterns and challenge
current dogmas and practices in arts and culture policy. The ultimate purpose
was to provide opportunities for artists' networks, policy makers, development
organisations, funding agencies, think-tanks and multilateral cultural bodies to
build relationships and potential partnerships.
WSoAC
was organised under the auspices of the International Federation of Arts
Councils and Culture Agencies (Ifacca) and the National Arts Council, and
was sanctioned by Joburg's directorate of arts, culture and heritage.
Artists, like Mamela Nyamza, create meaningful experiences
It
offered Joburg a place in which to examine its xenophobia, and to help its
people embrace their cultural differences and build a multicultural city. "Our
role within arts and culture is essential," says Steven Sack, Joburg's director
of arts, culture and heritage, reflecting on the legacy left by the summit.
Sack
believes artists are the only people who can portray stories about human
commonalities and history, and create meaningful experiences. "There are not a
lot of social spaces in which people can intermingle, embrace their differences
and build a multicultural Joburg; those spaces are really created by the arts.
Through various initiatives, the City promotes cultural diversity to create
meaning through the arts."
Xenophobia
In 2008, an orgy of xenophobic violence broke out in Johannesburg and swept
across the country. Foreigners living in the city were driven from their homes,
attacked and killed. Sack reflects on this, noting that it threatened to
discredit Joburg's work towards multiculturalism and forging an all embracing
city - this point was emphasised at the summit.
"The
2008 xenophobic attacks had a damaging effect on the psyche of people, not only
in Johannesburg but across the country. I think it was mentally distressing.
Fifteen years into our democracy, it was just like another setback ... I think
overall there was an upward momentum but then the attacks happened, and it was
a really bad event."
He
says that through the summit, the city sought to dispel perceptions that its
people were culturally divided. Each event organised after the violence was
also designed to forge camaraderie.
The
WSoAC gave Johannesburg the opportunity to correct its past and helped it
restore its dignity, he says. It opened doors to foreign collaborations,
initiated dialogue and debate between different communities, compelled people
to embrace their differences and consolidated social networks that would, in
the long run, leave a lasting legacy for the global arts fraternity and the
African arts sector.
Building understanding and tolerence through the arts
"Sometimes
a crisis of that nature is necessary to force people to confront issues and
talk about issues, and so artists and intellectuals are there at the forefront
to try to talk us out of the crisis," he explains.
Relationships
"I think the major benefit of the summit was in strengthening relationships
between countries in Africa, between cultural organisations, artists and
cultural institutions across the continent. It helped also to strengthen the
work of the arterial network or the African Forum, which represented many
African countries."
The
City's role in the summit was more hands-on, rather than just logistical. It
was lobbied into forming a sub-committee two years before the summit, which
chaired deliberations between Ifacca and was influential in the choice of Joburg
to host the summit.
"We
were quite central in putting the case for the summit to come to Johannesburg ...
[and in] giving assurance that we would have the facilities ready in Newtown to
host the summit. We were part of a co-ordinating committee and there was a
memorandum of understanding that was acted into between all the parties and we
then became part of the organising committee and sat over a period of two years
on that committee to ensure that the event took place."
Sack
says the honour of hosting the WSoAC could not have come at a better time, when
Joburg was being painted in a bad light by the local and international media,
and its reputation was slowly losing lustre. "There is a lot of scepticism in
the world about Johannesburg. [It] gets very bad press."
However,
the City used the platform offered by the summit to alter these bad perceptions.
Part of the arts hub: the Bassline in Newtown
"Of
course, attitudes were completely changed by 400 very significant opinion
makers in the world of arts and culture. Everybody who came here during the
summit - it was absolutely incident free - would have gone back [home] as an
ambassador for Johannesburg ... because they had a fabulous time. They had a
great summit," he says.
Arts
hub
Joburg is the art and culture mecca of South Africa and Africa at large,
inhabited by locals and people from across the continent. The city prides
itself on its many annual arts and culture events and its beautiful, eye-catching
public art.
As
such, it needs a robust and thriving arts and culture sector. Sack says that in
order for a city of Joburg's calibre to have a vibrant and sustainable arts and
culture sector, formidable institutions
should be established.
"The
key thing is institutions. You've got to have institutions that are robust and
sustainable, [for example] the Market Theatre, the Joburg Theatre, the
buildings in Newtown, the Bassline, dance studios, Museum Africa, the
Johannesburg Art Gallery; that what's key and that's what is the big difference
between Johannesburg and most African cities," he explains.
These
institutions must be used to forge foreign partnerships. "One is able to
leverage off reputation, so the City of Joburg has a reputation for having
delivered arts and culture programmes and for transformation and development - [and
is] at the cutting-edge of non-racialism and cultural diversity."
Most
of Joburg's art institutions are at the forefront of transformation, providing
opportunities for youngsters. "The Market Theatre is an obvious case - [it] provides
opportunities for young black artists to gain access to training. The
educational institutions in the city are part of that infrastructural framework
that is key to building a vibrant and sustainable arts and culture sector."
Sustainable
The next very important issue, he notes, is whether the City makes it possible
for artists to find sufficient work, to find employment, to work and live sustainably
as artists. "Generally, what you find is that you cannot live off what
Johannesburg and South Africa alone provide; [artists] have to have some kind
of global positioning and be able to access foreign markets."
Joburg: a melting pot of culture, religion, artistic skills, heritage and history
Artists
have to be able to act globally to impact locally - that's the mantra.
Joburg
is a melting pot of culture, religion, artistic skills, tradition, heritage and
history, and the summit served to reinforce this as an ideal. "For me, the
interesting thing about Joburg is that it's a young city - 123 years old. Nobody
can trace their roots in Joburg; there was nobody here in 1886 so we are all
migrants and I think that's a very important thing for us to understand as a
city," Sack says.
"Obviously
we are not migrants as South African citizens, but we all chose this place as a
place we've come to make a better life for ourselves. Everyone who has come
here has come with that in mind."
Better
life
And part of that better life is access to world cultures, world music, books,
food and "things that are diverse". That is what Joburg is all about and why it
will continue to be central to the development of South Africa, explains Sack.
"When
I talk to people who've come from the outskirts of the city they feel an
enormous sense of liberation when they come to Johannesburg because they are no
longer constrained by the parochialism of the village or the township or the
small town. They've come into a world in which they can really aspire to be
anything they want.
"So
that's the excitement of Johannesburg and the arts are absolutely central to
that differentiation and that excitement about being in this place," he says.
"It's
always such a pleasure to see a white audience taking pleasure in a Zulu dance or a black audience taking
pleasure in a piece of European classical music. That is visible manifestation
of tolerance, of understanding and diversity and it's only in the arts that you
witness it - and that's what we will continue to push."
The
fifth World Summit on Arts and Culture will be hosted in Melbourne, Australia
in October 2011.
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