WHITE PAPER ON ARTS AND CULTURE BRIEFING NOTE

DATE: /09/2015

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

1. Purpose

2. Background and scope

3. Description of the White Paper process to date

4. The process going forward

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1. PURPOSE

• To account to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture on the process of reviewing the White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage to date.

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2. BACKGROUND AND SCOPE• The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) has initiated a comprehensive process of reviewing

the White Paper of 1996. Drawing on the National Development Plan (NDP), the White Paper process has sought to develop a policy framework that would help reposition the Arts, Culture and Heritage (ACH) sector to realise its full potential for job creation and sustainable livelihoods pursuant to the department’s mandate of social cohesion and nation-building.

• Once approved, it is envisaged that the White Paper will provide an overarching policy framework that will foreground a sizable amount of legislative review to ensure the alignment of policy with the goals and objectives of the NDP.

• The main emphasis of the White Paper review was placed on assessing weaknesses inherent in the White Paper of 1996 by evaluating the extent to which its provisions align with the priorities and programme interventions of the DAC, the policy orientation of national government and the impact on all programme interventions and outcomes.

• The related objectives of the White Paper process are summarised thus:

To assess the efficiency and effectiveness of current institutions and structures of the DAC in meeting programme outputs and outcomes.

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Background cont. To examine policy shortcomings that resulted from the implementation of programmes by

assessing the impact of DAC interventions on programme outcomes.

To assess stakeholder perceptions, based on underlying comprehensions of programme activities against current policy.

To assess the alignment of policy provisions, institutions and structures with the goal of social cohesion and nation-building.

To compile an interim report, documenting the lessons learned and highlighting weaknesses, challenges and possible best practices.

To use the findings of the review, including consultations with stakeholders, to develop a revised White Paper on Arts and Culture.

To provide overall recommendations on the future role of entities within the DAC and beneficiary organisations, and suggest priority policy interventions.

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3. DESCRIPTION OF THE WHITE PAPER PROCESS TO DATE

• The Acting Director-General appointed a project team, in February 2015, headed by the ADG himself, to prepare a project plan and implementation timeline for the process. In mid-February, the team commenced work on the first phase of the project plan.

• A Concept Document, submitted to, and approved by the ADG on 15 March 2015, consisted of a literature and internal policy review of the ACH sector and creative economy, the development of a methodology, and the design of a workshop programme and public consultation schedule.

• In late March 2015 the DAC issued a public invitation to stakeholders and arts practitioners interested in participating in a review of the policies and work of the department, and the development of a related policy framework based on the research findings, current research and inputs of experts.

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White Paper process cont.• Following an initial round of public consultations in four provinces during the months of

March and April 2015, it was decided to extend the process to the last quarter of 2015 in order to accommodate a more representative sample of participants in all nine provinces.

• An interim report, based on the preliminary findings of the consultations, was submitted to the Minister of Arts and Culture in July 2015. The report consists of an analysis of the review results from four provinces, and an interpretation of common (cross-cutting) weaknesses, successes and lessons of the ACH sector as a whole, geared to their transferability to best practice models.

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White Paper process cont.Overall Approach•Several factors were considered in the design of an approach to the White Paper process. Firstly, given criticism of weak consultation during the 2013 Revised White Paper process, the research sample needed to be representative. Secondly, the scope of the information collected had to be wide enough for interpretation and further analysis. Thirdly, given the vastness of the project area, the data collection exercise was also to be cost-effective.

•In that regard, a staged approach was employed, where an initial document analysis provided the first dataset on the White Paper, and that data was used to inform the primary aspect of the exercise. The approach took the form of five interlocking stages:A review of policy documents and programme data;

The development of a research approach and methodology for the study;

Based on the initial information base, the design of a workshop format and schedule;

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White Paper process cont.An interpretation of the findings and discourse analysis; and

A set of recommendations.

Document Review•The purpose of the document review was to collect secondary data as well as sound out ideas and get input towards the design of the review. Based on this initial dataset, we scoped the framework for a rigorous review, as well as some broad questions, in order to come up with an effective approach with which to probe participants’ responsiveness to the DAC policy and institutional framework.

Consultations•In order to ensure a robust consultation process and correspondingly robust synthesis of public consultations and emerging understandings of the White Paper, we placed the main emphasis on the underlying principles, institutions, structures, business models and legal processes as main criteria for the review.

•The process has involved consultations within the DAC, the Portfolio Committee, experts and stakeholders and the public at large during late March and April 2015. Public participation was an open, accountable and inclusive process through which practitioners in the ACH sector, individual citizens, community groups, stakeholders and interest groups

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White Paper process cont.• exchanged views on a range of issues that will be affected by the outcome of the policy decision.

• In terms of approach, we considered the process’s potential to create a feedback loop: from implementation experiences of organisations in relation to the DAC, its entities and stakeholders themselves, to further research and action in a process of cross-fertilisation.

• This being so, the task was to explore, in the way in which the previous and current policies have been implemented, the relationship between participants’ experiences of policies, the our observations of their alignment (or misalignment with the National Development Plan), and the lessons extracted.

 

• In applying this approach, we placed the main emphasis on geographic location and social, economic and cultural specificities as main sample criteria. Four provinces (Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape) were initially selected for the review. This was subsequently extended to all nine provinces based on the supposition that they represented the true values in the exercise. After the initial round of consultations in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban common patterns were evident.

• The purpose of these workshops was to field the views of stakeholders and arts practitioners on their expectations of the White Paper, their organisations’ stresses, and perceptions of the overall effectiveness of the DAC strategic approach. By reviewing the White Paper the DAC intends to:

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White Paper process cont. Focus minds on the social and economic context in which both the DAC and the sector it leads

operates; Use the knowledge by policy makers, practitioners, and citizen to craft more effective and

equitable solutions to the challenges of social and economic exclusion; Remodel the institutional and organisational structure of the Department and its entities sector

in order to enable more efficient and effective delivery of the DAC’s strategic and programmatic objectives. The workshops are implemented in order to understand stakeholder’s opinions on 4/5 different commissions and to address the current challenges/problems and recommendations for these problems.

 • To that end, workshops were designed to obtain in-depth qualitative data on the challenges and

constraints facing individuals and organisations in the ACH sector, their programmes and assumptions, achievements, and their views on economic transformation, institutional governance, heritage and preservation, and administrative, financial and technical capacity.

• The most intensive period of data collection was engagements with samples of participants in the following workshop commissions:

Transforming the Arts, Culture and Heritage industries, including sector strategies, business models, and an ACH sector Venture Capital Fund

Remodelling the governance, institutional and organisational structure

 

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Cont.

Outcome 14 on Social cohesion and nation building programmes Cultural heritage and preservation programmes, including cultural diplomacy

• Workshop Commissions were structured into two rounds of discussion. The first round was an open-ended exploration of pains and gains across all Commissions. This dataset was used to enrich engagements by participants, guided by a list of questions – informed by emerging themes from the deskwork phase – under each of the aforementioned Commission themes. Participants were asked to express their views with regard to challenges as they related to individual experiences and locations and solutions (See Annexure for lists of questions).

 

• All workshops were electronically recorded. They lasted between 3 and seven hours. At the end, the data from this line of evidence was coded and catalogued for further analysis.

 

• While not quite complete, the consultation schedule and size for control purposes has so far covered a reasonable spectrum of geographical and contextual foci: most participants had been working in ACH and community contexts, and together they covered a range of programmes and represented the characteristics of geographical spread.

 

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• The second and third stages of the review process – the analysis, interpretation and conclusions of the research findings – should therefore be considered a continuation of the stages fixed by the review process.

• Workshops with DAC institutions have been held in August and September to discussion matters particular to these institutions.

Interim findings• An analysis of the findings to make a preliminary assessment of actual progress towards the

wider objectives of the Revised White Paper was conducted and submitted in an interim report to the Minister of Arts and Culture under the following thematic areas: professional development of artists, economic inclusion, social cohesion and nation building, sustainable development, and the weaknesses and challenges of the intervention and possible future intervention.

 

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4. THE PROCESS GOING FORWARDConsultative workshops

•Further consultations will be conducted in the following remaining provinces during the months of October and November 2015:Northern CapeMpumalangaNorth-West ProvinceNorthern ProvinceLimpopo

Submission process

•Once a broad statement of policy is finalised by the department, the first revised draft of the White Paper will be drafted up between November and December 2015, and submitted to the Cabinet as a Green Paper . •Once approved by Cabinet, the document will be published in the Government Gazette for public comment. •The final draft will be referred to Parliament for further consultation.•It is anticipated that this the final draft will be submitted to Parliament in the first quarter of 2016 

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THANK YOU!

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