Quincy Jones
5 April 2006
The Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan,
The UNICEF representative to South Africa,
Mr Macharia Karmau, the President of the United State (US) Fund for
UNICEF,
Mr Chip Lyons, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and key guest of honour, Mr Quincy
Jones,
CEO of the Gauteng Film office, Mr Terry Tselane,
The City Manager of Johannesburg, Mr Pascal Moloi,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed a privilege and honour to be present at this gathering, a
gathering that is indeed made especially meaningful by the presence of United
Nations Childrenâsâ Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador, Mr Quincy Jones - a
revered artist in his own right and someone who has dedicated so much of his
work to South Africa's pursuit for a just and equitable future for its youth.
Mr Jones as the Gauteng province we welcome you and thank you.
The questions you have raised and the discussions you have engaged in are
issues that the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation have too
been grappling with. HIV, crime, sexual violence, drug abuse and youth
development.
The Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation have a clear role to
play in addressing these issues. Traditionally our function has been thought of
and has been confined to the arts being used as a tool to create and foster
identity or to deepen democracy.
In keeping with this kind of thinking the Department has historically
invested in developmental programs and talent identification. Simply put it
filled a primary social function. It is an important function one that cannot
be overstated but as research across the world has shown the arts or rather the
creative industries are key components of regional and economic
development.
The central role that creative industries can play in economic growth and
our number one government priority of creating work and fighting poverty has
been recognised by the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) and by
the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
As a provincial government we recognise that creative industries present
important opportunities for job creation particularly amongst young people in
our country both those who are talented artists or skilled technicians and for
those without skills a group which other economic sectors find difficult to
absorb.
In case there are colleagues here who feel I exaggerate the economic case
for creative industries one needs only to point out that the Californian
economy, based on the film industry of Hollywood, is the sixth largest in the
world and were it an independent country it would count as one of the G7.
In recognition of their important economic potential the Department has
recently launched its creative industries strategy which hopes to develop the
creative industries to maximise their contribution to the economy, community
development and urban regeneration.
In doing this we recognise that the creative industries fall largely outside
government and that government's role is to more effectively support their
development. In this regard the strategy aims to provide a coordinating
framework for investment and implementation and to explicitly align creative
industries activities with the Gauteng Growth and Development Strategy
(GGDS).
As provincial government, we believe that the preconditions for success are
already in place; Gauteng has the most well developed creative economy in the
country and is home to the largest concentration of cultural enterprises in
South Africa. Research conducted by Create-SA in 2003 showed that over 40
percent of all creative enterprises are found in the province. One of its major
cities Johannesburg boasts the highest agglomeration of companies in many
sectors of the creative industries. In addition Gauteng has substantial
creative industry infrastructure, a vibrant creative arts community, well
structured and well organised, music, film, television, radio, print,
publishing and multimedia industries and has a world class technology and
skilled technical people who service these industries.
The creative industries in Gauteng clearly present significant opportunities
to contribute to economic and social objectives of the province. In order to
realise this potential a clear, concise and practical strategic framework has
been developed.
This framework will ensure that government, private sector investment and
community resources are targeted along the value chain beginning with community
based programmes that allow young people, particularly those from historically
disadvantaged communities to participate in arts and cultural activities,
through talent identification and development programmes which include
administrative and management training and aftercare support to the financing
of business initiatives as well as expanding markets and improving tourism
linkages.
I therefore want to congratulate UNICEF, the organisers and sponsors of this
programme for this pertinent and timely engagement around issues facing the
youth and the entertainment industry and for the attention to this initiative
and the visit of Mr Jones has brought.
Thank you.
Issued by: Ministry for Arts and Culture
5 April 2006
