Arts and culture are not nice-to-have additions to a thriving economy in Grahamstown: they are core to it. That’s the message from recently appointed director of Local Economic Development in Makana Municipality, Riana Meiring, speaking at the Council’s Tourism and Cultural Industries Portfolio Committee meeting recently.
Arts and culture are not nice-to-have additions to a thriving economy in Grahamstown: they are core to it. That’s the message from recently appointed director of Local Economic Development in Makana Municipality, Riana Meiring, speaking at the Council’s Tourism and Cultural Industries Portfolio Committee meeting recently.
It is also the municipality’s biggest financial commitment under the Tourism and cultural industries portfolio, at R1.5 million.
Meiring emphasised that arts and culture, as embodied in the Creative City Project, were its competitive advantage.
“We must use that to leverage everything we can,” she said.
The creative City Project was established in 2013 as an alliance of organisations involved in creative work, along with those in education and government.
With the Makana Arts Academy as its flagship project, a main goal of the Creative City is turning talent and creativity into sustainable careers.
Meiring said her department would drive the drafting of a concept document for a growth and development strategy that was centred on the Creative City Project.
The second-highest budget vote in the Tourism and Cultural Industries portfolio is for Makana’s inner city regeneration project.
A bid adjudication committee is due to meet before the end of this month to assess the tender worth R450 000.
R150 000 is allocated for the promotion of historic forts and towers.
Councillor Brian Jackson added a sense of urgency to the project, by saying there had been reports of increased numbers of foreign tour operators enquiring about a local battlefields route.
Marketing for the Kwam eMakana home stay project will receive a R60 000 boost.
And a selected bid for a R200 000 contract to produce a new video to promote tourism in Makana awaits final approval by the acting municipal manager.
The city’s readiness for the National Arts Festival, as well as trading policies for this period came under scrutiny.
Councillor Marcelle Booysen expressed concern about the city’s readiness for the National Arts Festival, as well as the unhappiness of traders at being relegated to the ‘poor cousin’ of the Village Green – Church Square.
“Which stalls go in which location is determined by market forces,” Meiring said. She emphasised that Creative City would be a project in which such delineation could be addressed.
“We don’t want the festival to be the only opportunity for people to exhibit crafts,” Meiring said.
“We want to create more opportunities for people to exhibit their crafts.”
