The Star E-dition

‘No help for emerging artists’

NONHLANHLA NDLOVU nonhlanhla.ndlovu@inl.co.za

“EMERGING artists are struggling to establish a viable career in the arts industry. This has been made worse by Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government, which has failed to meet any of its set targets for emerging artists,” says Wildri Peach, DA spokesperson for sport, arts, culture and recreation in Gauteng.

The MPL said these failures are a clear indication that Lesufi’s aim to use sport and the arts as a vehicle for economic empowerment and transformation is just a pipe dream.

“A DA government would ensure the budget allocated for this department is spent properly and all targets are met. We would ensure the money allocated is only spent in a manner that benefits our sport, arts, and culture industries. It’s unacceptable that the goalposts for meeting targets by this department are constantly shifted.”

Peach added that the expectations for the third quarterly report for the 2022/23 financial year were not met.

“No arts and culture integrated programme was achieved for no-fee schools against a target of 90; no cultural and creative industries were supported against a target of three; no emerging DJs were supported against a target of 200 and no arts and cultural events were supported against a target of 10.”

“No animation enterprise developers were supported against a target of 12; no new statues for heroes and heroines of the Heritage Liberation Struggle were installed, although a target of one was set; no community outreach programmes in museums were conducted, although a target of three was set; no hospital or clinic libraries were established, although a target of seven was set, and no non-feepaying schools were supported with library services, although a target of 10 was set. It is unacceptable that this department managed to overspend its budget by R270 500, but was unable to meet any of the targets outlined. Our creative industry suffered a huge setback during the pandemic and needs all the financial support it can get.”

Attempts to get a comment from the Gauteng Department of Sport, Art, Culture and Recreation were unsuccessful by the time of publication.

METRO

en-za

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/282402698631098

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