Arts Dept Looks to Boost Job Creation

BuaNews (Tshwane)

28 June 2011

Pretoria — The professional status of people working in the arts sector in South Africa and other policy issues need to be addressed in order to maximise job creation opportunities in the industry.

This was one of the assertions of Arts and Culture Director-General, Sibusiso Xaba, at the official opening of the International Conference on Arts, Society and Sustainable Development, held at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) on Monday.

Xaba brought into question the need for people working in the sector to have formal education and qualifications.

“We don’t have answers to these questions and I hope that the conference will provide some guidelines,” he said.

In keeping with the trend of job creation, Xaba announced that his department will create a National Skills Academy for the Arts later this year. The aim of the academy will be to train people to work in the arts, culture and heritage industry.

The conference brings together individuals from across the globe to debate arts and culture as a tool for sustainable development.

Professor Mzo Sirayi, Executive Dean of the Faculty of the Arts at TUT, highlighted that the conference should, among others, look at designing academic programmes that produce students who have the ability to think critically, exercise independent judgment and evaluate complex information and ideas.

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