Since the UN Conference and Trade and Development Reports of 2008 and 2010 that highlighted the resilience and impact of the creative industries, particularly in the Global North, they have been promoted as drivers of economic growth and thus of development in the Global South.  Given the different conditions in Africa generally and in South Africa in particular, is this a realistic approach?

As is usual for these seminars, artist-in-residence at the University of Pretoria, Mike van Graan, will present a paper on the topic, and this paper will be critiqued by two respondents. 

Mashupe Phala, an Actor, Playwright, Director and Producer based in Limpopo with an MA in Cultural Management from Wits University will be a respondent along with Lee Walters, a Cultural Worker with experience in formal and informal arts spaces, Wits graduate with an MA in Cultural Studies, and currently, a PhD student at the University of the Western Cape.

RSVP to [email protected] by 15:00 on Monday 13 May 2019. 

Future Africa is a new campus at the University of Pretoria (which opened officially on 29 March) where it is envisaged that “scientists and scholars from across the world and from a broad range of disciplines will come together to leverage the benefits of transdisciplinary research to address the grand challenges that face Africa and the world”. 

Directions: Take the South Street entrance to the University of Pretoria Sports Complex, pass through a second boom to the Experimental Farm, and follow this road to the Future Africa Campus on the right (about 1,5km from the second boom).  Signs will direct you to the venue.