Making Art Work

Many people within Zimbabwe’s creative scene will tell you that the country is currently going through an artistic renaissance. Fashion, music, fine art, dance and theatre are all enjoying a positive momentum, the like of which we haven’t seen in years. The artists themselves are just as excited but there’s a question that still needs answering: how can we make this upsurge in the arts sustainable and build markets for Zimbabwe’s creative industries?

There are a number of problems which plague our cultural industries. For example there are no clearly defined roles within the ecosystem – an artist needs to be a jack of all trades, proficient in marketing, business, accounting. Another issue is the lack of cultural statistics data which makes it hard for creatives to build on their previous efforts as they have no record of their success. This information access gap was highlighted in 2023 by Hendrix Chigiji, manager for cultural and tourism statistics at ZIMSTATS. Paul Damasane – Zimbabwe’s former principal Director of Arts, Culture & Heritage noted another problem in the arts sector in 2021 when he said, “Cultural and creative industries are becoming mega-money spinners in many different ways, but I think our higher and tertiary education sector has not yet responded to that.”

While these are interesting insights into the problem at hand we still need to ask: how much can government policy actually impact the creative industry?

Zimbabwe’s traditionally negative view of art education can be traced as far back as the colonial era when art as a subject was considered a non-academic pastime for non-achievers and women (the latter had few career options available to them outside of marriage). Unfortunately this situation didn’t notably improve until 2017 when the Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education made art compulsory in all schools. But the effect of this change is yet to be quantified.

This is especially regrettable when you consider Zimbabwe’s rich artistic heritage. Our stone sculpture is famous around the world; the 26-acre Chapungu Sculpture Park at Centerra, Colorado, is the largest outdoor art centre in the United States devoted to Zimbabwean stone sculpture.

So what can governments do to help arts students sustain a decent career?

If Zimbabwe wanted some inspiration as to how to grow and support its creative industries it could take a look at what has been done in Australia – its National Art Scholarship is a great example of how policy can positively impact art education.

Established in 1997 by Australia’s National Gallery, the scholarship gives 400 high-school students the chance to attend a one-week residency at the National Gallery in Canberra.

As part of the programme students are taught about the inner workings of Australia’s leading visual arts institution; they meet and develop connections with staff from curatorial, conservation, registration, programming, digital and marketing; and they discover how the various departments work together to collect, display, research and care for art from around the world.

The programme not only gives the young students the chance to see how the gallery is run but they also begin to develop a network within the art world and develop an understanding of how it all works – knowledge that will prove invaluable should the students decide to try to make an acceptable living in their chosen creative industry.

Beyond this, the scholarship also gives students an idea about how many different career paths are available within the arts industry. They attend workshops on what art is, what it could be and what making art involves, giving them a head start on what it takes to make it in the art world. The Australian Government claims that 68 per cent of scholarship participants have gone on to have a career in the arts or creative industries. It’s a great example of how an arts-positive approach to policy can help students and future artists recognise the many roles on offer within the creative industry.

Beyond education, there is much to be done to develop Zimbabwe’s film industry. In 2017, Professor Nyasha Mboti, formerly a film lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, published a research paper entitled “Zimbabwe’s Film Industry” in which he stated that the “distribution of audio-visual products in the southern African region is arguably the primary blockage in the film and television value chain in the region”. He went on to say that this was due to a lack of resources, and there was not much interest from consumers due to a lack of exposure – consumers neither knew of local films’ existence nor where to watch the films.

Over the last 20 years, access and exposure to film in Zimbabwe has increased but we still have a middling film industry. What could the Government do to help?

South Korea, a country with one of the largest film industries in the world, is a fine example to follow. In 2022 its film industry released 817 films, raking in a staggering US$1.3bn (4.5 per cent of Zimbabwe’s GDP). South Korea managed to do this with a 50 per cent domestic film share (percentage of total box office revenue earned by domestically produced films), a percentage much higher than film powerhouses such as France (39.5 per cent) and Britain (37.4 per cent).

How did South Korea do this? In 1986, its Government removed import quotas on film after the signing of a film agreement with the United States. Initially the local industry couldn’t keep up with Hollywood’s quality, but eventually South Korean filmmakers and theatres realised that they no choice but to produce films that were good enough to compete with Hollywood. South Korean filmmakers enlisted the help of companies within the country to produce the films; global electronics giant Samsung was one of the first brands to come on board.

This corporate support transformed the structure of the South Korean film industry: it introduced a modern – not government-engineered but market-driven – vertically integrated system of production covering everything from finance to distribution. The opening up of the market by the Government sparked the creativity that motivated filmmakers and businesses to come together.

While the South Korean Government removed the import quotas, it kept screen quotas (first implemented in 1966), ensuring a mandatory number of days on which South Korean movies had to be shown. Usually quotas are used by countries to protect their own film industries but South Korea used this quota to guarantee equal opportunity for South Korean films. This addressed some of the distribution pain points that South Korean filmmakers had experienced.

In 1993 the South Korean Government reclassified the film industry from a service industry to a manufacturing industry which led to an influx of capital into film. The recognition that the entertainment industry was a commercial product enabled filmmakers to access bank loans for the first time, and they were able to enjoy tax exemptions that were previously only available to manufacturers.

This reclassification also meant that South Korea’s film industry was able to apply for subsidies. These have played a big part in the financing of the South Korean film industry since the Nineties.

The South Korean Government has always offered tax exemptions to smaller filmmakers and studios – those which employ less than 1,000 people. These tax breaks, which last for four years, apply to studios outside of the country’s capital Seoul ensuring that studios located in smaller markets can compete with their urban counterparts.

Tax subsidies alone can’t prop up smaller studios, but these efforts show a government intent on ensuring that its film industry remains competitive and viable.

It’s no surprise, then, that in five decades since the heavy involvement of its Government, the South Korean film industry now outperforms many of the world’s largest film industries in terms of audience, number of films produced and quality of the films produced. Today its film industry is the seventh largest in the world.

Australia and South Korea illustrate just two examples which show how governments taking strategic and intentional policy positions can help educate and create more sustainable markets for artists.

Zimbabwe’s vibrant arts and culture scene holds immense potential for economic growth, social cohesion and international recognition. By learning from successful models such as those in Australia and South Korea the Zimbabwean Government can play a crucial role in nurturing this potential.

Increased funding for the arts, tax breaks for creative industries and investment in infrastructure and training will empower Zimbabwe’s artists. This in turn would lead to a flourishing creative sector that strengthens the national identity, attracts investment and positions Zimbabwe as a cultural powerhouse. The time is ripe for the Government to embrace creative industries as a strategic investment in the nation’s future.

MAKING ART WORK