{"id":3877,"date":"2020-05-30T10:51:44","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T09:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=3877"},"modified":"2020-06-18T22:26:28","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T21:26:28","slug":"cold-times-for-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=3877","title":{"rendered":"Cold times for artists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nOur artists who entertain us and create meaning in our world are\nthrown into poverty as government dallies <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\nAfter losing all their income as theatres and performance venues shut\ndown with immediate effect from 15 March, it took a further two\nmonths before a tiny percentage of artists received any relief\nfunding from government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOf over 5,000 applications from artists seeking relief from the\nDepartment of Sports, Arts and Culture, only 488 artists have been\npaid out, eight weeks after Covid-19 relief funding for artists and\nathletes was announced. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA R150m relief fund was announced by DSAC on 25 March, with criteria\nfor applications announced on 29 March and a submission deadline of 4\nApril, which was extended to 6 April as many artists were not able to\nobtain the necessary documents within the time frame. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA list of those who received money was published on the Department of\nSports, Arts and Culture (DSAC) website in the last week of May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cIf we cannot provide relief to artists in a period of six weeks\nfrom date it was announced, then there\u2019s something fundamentally\nwrong with the way we understand poverty,\u201d said Market Theatre CEO\nIsmail Mohamed during a radio interview on 7 May. It took a further\ntwo weeks before money was disbursed by the DSAC, capped at a maximum\nof R20,000 per artist or company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\nBut the criteria for obtaining the relief funding remains murky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nActor Toni Morkel is on the list of recipients and said she received\nthe R12,000 she asked for on Monday 18 May. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHowever, others involved in the show for the Klein Karoo Nationale\nKunstefees, which was canceled and, did not receive any money from\nthe DSAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis includes director Sylvaine Strike and three actors on the same\nproject, all of whom, said Morkel and Strike, provided the same\ndocumentation about the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nStrike, an award-winning theatre director based in Johannesburg, said\nshe had four contracts which would have seen her through until\nNovember. Despite providing proof of cancellation for all four\nproductions along with other required documentation, all she had\nreceived from the DSAC was an initial acknowledgment of receipt and\nlater, a request to resend her tax clearance certificate. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nLabeling the R150m set aside by the DSAC, which is to be shared by\nartists and athletes, as a \u2018relief fund\u2019 has also been\ncriticised, as the R150m comes out of the existing DSAC budget for\nproductions and events that were canceled due to the lockdown, rather\nthan being additional emergency relief. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cThe Department has therefore\nreprioritized its budget allocation from quarter one to avail over\nR150 million to provide the much needed relief to practitioners in\nthe sector,\u201d stated DSAC minister Nathi Mthethwa on 25 March. \nThus, this was money the department was already committed to paying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOver one million people affected<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThere are 92,163 people directly employed in arts and culture sector\nstated DSAC Director-General Vusumusi Mkhize in a 702 radio broadcast\ninterview with Eusebius McKaiser on 7 May. A further 335,000 people\nworked in support of the industry, with the creative and cultural\nindustry supporting a further 698,000 people in ancillary services or\ncrew. Cumulatively, said Mkhize, the sector directly and indirectly\nsupports 1.1 million people. These figures are backed up by those of\nthe South African Cultural Observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSA Cultural Observatory chief economist Jen Snowball said the\ncreative economy contributed R74 billion to the economy in 2018, or\n1.7% of the national GDP. If the multiplier effect was taken into\naccount (including people such as an accountant working for a theatre\ncompany or catering company employed in the film industry) the sector\naccounted for 5.5% of GDP, said Snowball. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFurther, the arts and culture sector had been growing at 2.4% per\nyear from 2016 to 2018, outstripping the economic growth of 1.1%. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe R150m \u2018relief fund\u2019, however, only applies to those 92, 163\nartists whose income is solely reliant on the creative sector. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nArtists facing a desperate situation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOne of the 4,512 artists who applied for relief but has not received\nanything, is Cape Town film choreographer Didi Moses. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMoses said she sent the department proof of canceled contracts, email\naddresses and contact details of people who could verify her\ninformation, as well as her monthly expenses, but it took six weeks\nbefore she even received a response to say her application was\ndeclined, but she could appeal. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nShe said her appeal then bounced back and after much frustration she\ntook to Twitter in a social media campaign to try get a response from\nMthethwa, after which she finally received a proper email address for\nher appeal 60 days after her initial application. Two weeks later,\nshe had still received no further response to her appeal. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cHow can you expect us to survive\nfor two months when we\u2019ve been abiding by the laws laid down by the\nPresident?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nShe said she has not been able to pay any of her bills, including her\nrent, and is accumulating a mountain of debt. Even though film\ncompanies could now commence work with a maximum crew of 50, it did\nnot automatically mean there was work for crew or actors.\nAdditionally, much of the work came from international companies who\nwere not able to travel here. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMoses, along with theatre producers and actors Mother City News spoke\nto, only expect to be able to return to any form of regular or\nsemi-regular work in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMoses said the situation was resulting in breakdowns among artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cSome artists I know can\u2019t get\nout of bed,\u201d she said, adding that at 2am she had to counsel a\nfellow artist who was considering suicide. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cPeople can\u2019t anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThere are young artists and those in their 60s who can\u2019t pay their\nbills, she said, and are in danger of losing their cars, their\nhouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHomegrown efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMeanwhile, the Theatre Benevolent Fund, established to assist aged or\ninfirm theatre practitioners, along their other civil society and\nindustry initiatives, has be doing what they can to bridge the gap. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn a statement released in May, the Theatre Benevolent Fund (TBF),\nwhose executive is unpaid and voluntary, stated they had paid out\nR401,000 by way of \u201cabout 800 food vouchers\u201d to theatre\npractitioners after receiving R250,000 from a private donor and\nR151,000 from other donors. However, the funds are now exhausted and\nthe TBF has had to close its relief fund. The TBF welcomed\nindependent auditing of their relief efforts. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Feed Our Crew initiative is also providing R500 vouchers to\ntechnical crew behind the actors and performers. Mother City News was\nunable to reach them before deadline to find out how many people they\nhave helped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNo response from government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhile the belated disbursement of funds to 488 artists is welcomed,\nnumerous questions about transparency remain, among them the tenders\nawarded to companies to run live streaming artists\u2019 work on digital\nplatform. A respected industry source said it appeared three\ncompanies had been selected but this could not be confirmed as the\nDSAC did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAmong the questions sent to the DSAC\u2019s ministerial spokesperson,\ndepartment spokesperson, and chief director of communications and\nmarketing on the evening of 25 May, were: \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. What\n\tpercentage of the R150m relief fund as announced by Minister Nathi\n\tMthethwa on 25 March 2020, is set aside for arts and culture, as\n\topposed to sports?\n\t<\/li>
  2. Who\n\tare the members of the Arts and Culture adjudication committee for\n\tthe disbursement of the arts and culture portion of the R150m relief\n\tfund?\n\t<\/li>
  3. How\n\tmany times have they met?\n\t<\/li>
  4. Are\n\tthey getting paid to meet, and if so, are they being paid at the\n\tstandard Treasury rate of R1,300 per day, with a day for preparation\n\tadded?\n\t<\/li>
  5. Is\n\tthere any representative from the DSAC, or arts and culture more\n\tbroadly, on the Covid-19 National Command Council? If so, who are\n\tthey?\n\t<\/li>
  6. Three\n\tcompanies are believed to have been awarded tenders by the DSAC, to\n\tcreate, or facilitate the creation of live streaming digital\n\tcontent. What are the company names?\n\t<\/li>
  7. What\n\tis the monetary value of the contracts they have received?\n\t<\/li>
  8. Are\n\tthese contractors to be paid from the arts and culture section of\n\tthe R150m relief fund?\n<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Although\na read receipt was received 36 minutes after the questions were\nemailed, no response was forthcoming by the deadline of noon, 28 May,\na full two-and-a-half days later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Our artists who entertain us and create meaning in our world are thrown into poverty as government dallies After losing all their income as theatres and performance venues shut down … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[996,576,997],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3879,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions\/3879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}