Archival Platform wins Western Cape Cultural Affairs Award for archival advocacy

The Archival Platform, an initiative established under the auspices of the University of Cape Town NRF Chair in Archive and Public Culture and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, has won the 2015/2016 Western Cape Cultural Affairs Award for Archival Advocacy.

These awards, presented annually by the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS), are bestowed on organisations and individuals who have, in the words of the DCAS “made a profound impact in the arts, culture, language, heritage, museums, archives, geographic names and libraries sectors in the Western Cape.”

The Archival Platform plays an advocacy and intervention role in respect of memory, archives and records as dynamic public resources in South Africa in the 21st century and within the context of a young democracy.

The Archival Platform’s report, State of the Archives: an analysis of South Africa’s national archival system 2014, published in March 2015, was the culmination of a massive two-year research project funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It provides an in-depth analysis of the national Archival System. This report is proving to be a useful document that identifies key weaknesses as well as pockets of strength in the system and thereby puts the responsible authorities on notice. The process through which it was researched, drafted and presented was an invaluable activist and advocacy intervention.

The launch of the report was followed by an intensive series of national and provincial Dialogue Forums, which brought representatives from archives and records management services, civil society archives, academic institutions, museums and other related initiatives together.

The State of the Archives analysis provides a crucial tool for archivists and related practitioners to apply pressure on relevant decision makers to pay attention to their problems in specified ways: the Dialogue Forums strengthened the capacity and the resolve of participants to advocate more vocally for archives within their own environments.

The Archival Platform extends its congratulations to the archivists and records managers who won awards in other related categories: Most Influential person in Records Management – Juliana Vercueil and the Registration team, Western Cape Liquor authority; and Best Contribution to Archival Heritage – Elrika le Roux and the Client Information Services team, Western Cape Archives and Records Service, Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.

For further details see the Archival Platform website and the DCAS website.