South African National Gallery

bonani 2nd quarter 1998

Current Exhibitions & Special Events Natale Labia Museum Friends of the National Gallery

The issue of adequate government support for arts, culture and heritage has been the subject of this message many times during the past seven years, as has criticism of those who wish to shift the responsibility to the private sector. The art community was profoundly shocked at the way in which the cash-strapped Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council decided, without consultation, to pull the plug on the second Johannesburg Biennale last year by closing it overnight on 30 November, when the original closing date was 18 January 1998. Interested parties and stakeholders rallied to the Africus Institute's call to save the Biennale - and save face - and succeeded, thanks to careful re-planning and funding which came from the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, the Arts and Culture Trust and Gauteng Province. The effort revealed that we are capable of turning a major crisis around, but the odds against a third Biennale are high, and key figures have had their contracts terminated. Victor Modise, executive officer for arts, culture development and facilities, hopes for a 1999 Biennale, but cautions that broader sources of finance will have to be sought. Who does he have in mind?

An e-mail from Amir Sidharta of the Museum Universitas Pelita Harapan in Jakarta, Indonesia put a chilling perspective on the dependency on business for the well-being, development and indeed survival of the arts and related projects. In an attempt to make the Eleventh Jakarta Biennale possible, the Jakarta Arts Foundation and Jakarta Arts Council are appealing to international museums and collectors to buy Indonesian art as a fund-raising exercise. Already the event has been postponed from 1998 to 1999, and Sidharta explains the reason for this:

"The economic crisis that Indonesia is currently facing will effect the development of art in Indonesia. Many art events that have been scheduled might have to be cancelled as a result of this recession. Corporate sponsors who have in the past become the major patron of the arts, will need to focus their activities in recovering from tremendous losses as a result of the meltdown."

Let us wake up to this alarm from our colleagues in Indonesia, and continue, with renewed commitment and vigour, to remind the authorities of their duty and responsibility and to campaign that the government allocate adequate resources for the funding of the arts. At the moment it is government policy to reduce its expenditure on arts and culture and to increasingly encourage the business community to become the patron of the arts.

Willem Muller, A Pic-nic, c1990, gouache.

The media form part of this process. The SABC, the state-funded media vehicle, which is supposed to provide broadcasting material to the public at large, sacrificed the television programme 'Arts Unlimited', the one programme on national television that devoted serious attention to the visual arts. While we were honoured and delighted that producer Allen Auld chose the SANG for his final programme, we found the summary end to 'Arts Unlimited' - without any sight of an alternative - disturbing. The responses from the SABC to the serious concerns raised by this institution have been to indicate that the three SABC television channels were commercially driven and that this, unfortunately would impact negatively on programmes on arts and culture.

This was in October last year. As things stand right now, there is no art programme on national television - one called 'Art Land' is scheduled to commence at the end of March, beginning of April. Readers of bonani are invited to express their views on this state of affairs and join us in our call to government to make good on its promises as articulated in the Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Programme - to create the environment and circumstances for the people of the land to develop and express themselves artistically. If civil society does not act, the kow-towing to the gods of commercialism by the government and its agencies will have serious consequences for the growth of the arts and the protection of heritage in South Africa.

Let us wake up to this alarm from colleagues in Indonesia, and continue, with renewed commitment and vigour, to remind the authorities of their duty and responsibility, and to campaign that the government allocate adequate resources for the funding of the arts. At the moment it is government policy to reduce its expenditure on arts and culture and to increasingly encourage the business community to become the patron of the arts.

The media form part of this process. The SABC, the state-funded media vehicle, which is supposed to provide broadcasting material to the public at large, sacrificed the television programme 'Arts Unlimited', the one programme on national television that devoted serious attention to the visual arts. While we were honoured and delighted that producer Allen Auld chose the SANG for his final programme, we found the summary end to 'Arts Unlimited' - without any sight of an alternative - disturbing. The responses from the SABC to the serious concerns raised by this institution have been to indicate that the three SABC television channels were commercially driven and that this, unfortunately, would impact negatively on programmes on arts and culture.

This was in October last year. As things stand right now, there is no art programme on national television - one called 'Art Land' is scheduled to commence at the end of March/ beginning of April. Readers of bonani are invited to express their views on this state of affairs and join us in our call to government to make good on its promises as articulated in the Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Programme - to create the environment and circumstances for the people of the land to develop and express themselves artistically. If civil society does not act, the kow-towing to the gods of commercialism by the government and its agencies will have serious consequences for the growth of the arts and the protection of heritage in South Africa.

And it may well impact negatively on the restructuring of national collections which has commenced. Since I last reported on this process in bonani, much has happened. The Working Groups and Task Teams that were constituted to investigate and make recommendations on the establishment of the flagship institutions in the Western Cape and Gauteng, completed their task towards the end of 1997. The reports, which were the result of a broad and participatory process, demonstrate the potential capacity of the amalgamated institutions to deliver key national services. They were independently assessed in terms of the feasibility and implications of the proposals. At a meeting called by the Director-General of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) on 23 January, agreement was reached by Directors and Chairpersons of Councils of the future flagship museums to move ahead as planned, and the organisational structure and implementation framework devised by the consultants were accepted. A new council will be established for each flagship, while sufficient flexibility is built in to deal with institutional specific issues and concerns. Now the work starts.

A Transformation Committee, comprising representatives of DACST and Directors and staff representatives of the two flagship institutions, has been constituted with two sub-committees that will focus on the museums in the north and the south. The consultants' report will be analysed and refined, and implemented in terms of our vision for a national museum service. Key issues at this stage are the creation of frameworks in which financial and human resources management, as well as legal matters, can be located. Mechanisms for monitoring transformation in individual institutions and adequate communication among institutions, and with the public and government, will be put in place.

In the meantime individual institutions have been allocated subsidies for the 1998/99 financial year. While we have not suffered cuts, we have not received increases for a number of years, making it increasingly difficult to budget even for our basic needs, let alone functioning meaningfully without raising large amounts of money with which to do our work. We trust that the new vision for national collections, and its implementation, will address the invidious position in which museum workers and Councils find themselves right now - a huge responsibility for the protection and security of collections which we hold in trust for the people of South Africa, and hopelessly inadequate funding with which to honour our commitment.

Marilyn Martin