In Cape Town this week, a conference on Africa’s creative
economy bangs the drum for art, culture and the creative industries.
Policymakers looking for ways to nurture a more prosperous and peaceful Africa
would do well to listen.
A growing body of research
indicates that Africa’s culture is a largely untapped resource that could give
its economic development a welcome fillip. Artistic and cultural activity is
also proving a driver of democratisation and can help prevent violent conflict.
For too long most African leaders
and foreign donors have treated art and culture as at best marginal, at worst
irrelevant to core development and peacebuilding agendas. It’s time to shake
off these old assumptions, understand more clearly culture’s potential and
harness it to make Africa a better place to live.
Culture for economic growth
Economists agree the creative
industries, such as film, music, TV, advertising, design, publishing, live
performance and craft, together form a remarkably healthy branch of the global
economy. When the crisis hit in 2008, world exports of creative goods and
services continued to grow at annual rate of 14 per cent. In the UK, creative
industries account for about 6 per cent of GDP. New media and communication
technologies are partly to thank. They make it easier for enterprising people
to create content, package it and connect to buyers – to spin imagination into
profit.
Africa’s slice of this creative
economy pie is still very small (less than one per cent), but it has some
leading lights to show the way. Nigeria’s rambunctious film industry –
Nollywood – exports to the continent and beyond. Industry officials claim it’s
the country’s second largest employer after agriculture. Senegalese musicians,
combining traditional musical styles with modern recording, have gained a
good foothold in the global market through sales and touring. Cape Town is
concentrating creative, tech and business talent in one neighbourhood – The
Fringe – and as next year’s World Design Capital plans to exploit the
international spotlight.
The creative industries are
particularly interesting for Africa. They can help economies diversify and
avoid an overdependence on limited natural resources. Africa’s rich artistic
heritage and cultural traditions are bottomless wells of inspiration.
Unemployment in crowded cities is a real problem. Creative industries can be
part of the solution. They thrive on the friction of diverse people and ideas
in one place and the burgeoning urban middle classes offer a ready domestic
market. Creative dazzle would also help foreign investors see Africa
differently – as a fertile land for good ideas, not just coffee and cocoa.
Culture for democracy
A lively arts scene is the pulsing
heart of an open, democratic society. It enables and encourages citizens to
express their views in the public sphere, fomenting healthy debate. The arts,
like the media, are also a mouthpiece with which civil society holds
politicians to account.
Some African governments try to
deny their citizens the fundamental right of free creative expression, but many
artists have shown the strength to resist state control and air alternative
narratives. Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president until the revolution broke in
2011, recognised the power of artists and built extensive state cultural
institutions to co-opt and control them. Some capitulated, others held tightly
to their independence. Many writers, musicians and visual artists have been at
the forefront of the revolutionary wave and continue to mobilise support for
the pro-democracy movement.
In Uganda, artists – singers
especially – voice criticism of Yoweri Museveni’s increasingly authoritarian
regime. Though the state bans songs from the radio, they still circulate on CD.
This kind of politically engaged popular culture encourages citizens to play a
part in shaping their country’s future.
Culture for peace
Much conflict in Africa has a
cultural dimension as combatants’ motivations are often entangled with ethnicity
or religion. Cultural difference is not in itself a cause of conflict, but when
political actors promote their community above others they sow the seeds of an
“˜us-against-them’ mentality. Once blood is spilt, cultural communities
mistrust and fear one another increasing the chances of recurrent violence.
Resolving conflict requires
political agreements. But art can play an important part rebuilding tolerance
and trust and preventing a return to arms. First, enabling all communities to
express their art – that which embodies their values and way of life – in the
public sphere officially recognises their value and promotes cultural
pluralism. Second, when former adversaries engage together in cultural exchange
and creative activities they can learn about each others’ cultures and
rediscover the possibility of cooperation.
Two weeks after Islamists attacked
the Westgate mall in Nairobi, the killing of a Muslim cleric in Mombasa
provoked riots and a church was set on fire. Relations between Christians and
Muslims are under strain. To prevent further violence Kenyans need to recognise
their multicultural mix and embrace cultural pluralism. Inter-faith and
inter-community cultural exchange at the grass-roots, city and national levels
can help them do that.
How to realise the potential of
culture
Governments, industry and
international experts should do more research to map and analyse Africa’s
established and incipient creative industries. Using these insights,
policymakers should tailor their approach to create an enabling environment for
creative types.
They may need to tighten up
intellectual property rights regimes, invest in cultural infrastructure and
work with industry on strategies to promote cultural tourism. To be effective,
they’ll need to cut dead wood from cultural ministries. The state should act as
an enabler, and refrain from meddling in content.
Creative businesses and non-profits
should lobby their governments and foreign donors with specific asks and look
for operating models from elsewhere that could work for them. Arterial Network,
the Africa-wide association behind the Cape Town conference, helps its members
share ideas. But stronger inter-country collaboration is needed to mesh and
embolden artistic communities.
Donors should help professionalise
creative enterprises and arts organisations, especially by boosting business
skills. They should raise the profile of African creative industries and
products on the international scene. Some cultural relations outfits like the
British Council do this already, but donor governments should integrate support
for culture and creativity into their main development and peacebuilding plans.
It should not be an optional extra.
A global campaign is underway to
ensure the UN’s post-2015 development agenda integrates culture throughout.
Africa’s policymakers and friends overseas should support it. Art and culture
benefit individuals and society in many surprising ways. Creating jobs,
encouraging democratic norms and healing inter-communal wounds are three, but
that’s just the beginning.
