Lack of infrastructure cripples local art industry
ALEXANDRA – The shortage of art facilities and infrastructure in townships and in places where the previously disadvantaged live affects the development of art.
Cultural activist and former general secretary of the National Arts Coalition Mike van Graan said the Department of Arts and Culture in the country has failed poor communities and continues with the legacy of the apartheid government, which excluded and neglected townships and rural communities.
Speaking to Alex News at the Alexandra Cultural Creatives Summit recently held in East Bank Community Hall, van Graan, who was the special adviser to the first minister responsible for arts and culture, said the decision of the national department to build art facilities in urban areas was a clear indication that the government was not prepared to change the mistakes of the past.
“We heard the minister of finance talking about the new national theatre and national museum – where are they going to be? They are not going to be in the township or in poor communities. In the meantime, people who have been excluded for the last 25 years and before that under apartheid will continue to be excluded,” he said.
He added that the shortage of art facilities and infrastructure in townships and in places where the previously disadvantaged live affects the development of art and cripples the industry, which has a potential to help grow the country’s economy.
