Platform provides new opportunities for participatory democracy in arts and culture

Posted on August 25, 2009

Political analyst Richard Calland (Mail & Guardian, July 24) described the current political environment in South Africa as providing opportunities for participatory democracy that had been increasingly lacking under former president Thabo Mbeki. He pointed to a high level glasnost in politics, a new conviviality and openness under President Jacob Zuma, in spite of accountability and implementation problems in the nether regions of government. At the same time, after the 2007 ANC national conference in Polokwane, there has been a new effort, spearheaded by party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, to bring ANC policy closer to government.

What does this mean for the arts and culture sector? Arts and culture was very prominent in the anti-apartheid 1980s as a vehicle for participatory democracy, but today there is little serious debate about its role and value, apart from vague references to social cohesion and economic value. In the last 15 years, the sector has been affected by both neglect and heavy-handed interventionism, and it has suffered from poor co-ordination at a national level. There has been discontent, especially at provincial and local levels, about 'service delivery' problems in museums, libraries and archives. At the same time, we have recently had a major national policy review process in the Department of Arts and Culture, we have large numbers of very dedicated and experienced people in the heritage and archives sector in the country, a strong network of institutions, and there is a new energy and excitement across the sector that can't be ascribed simply to soccer fever.

How do we use the new political climate and our existing resources to address old problems and new challenges facing the sector? The idea behind the Archival Platform is to encourage the process of sharing ideas and information - as government officials, sector professionals, academics and the public - across the barriers of profession, geography, institutional travel allowances and telephone bills. We have already put out three newsletters since May, hosted a panel at the Southern African Historical Society conference on problems and possibilities in South African archives, enabled a number of productive connections between academics, heritage professionals, genealogists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government, and nominated four people to the new National Archives Advisory Council.

The new website launched with this newsletter, coupled with Facebook and twitter, gives you an opportunity to benefit from this initiative, tell us what you think we should do or not do, and engage in your own brand of participatory democracy. Contact us with your news and ideas! Update your institutional information!