| Introduction |
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In many learning fields such as history, reference materials for use by learners and educators are being developed all the time. Reclamation scholarship has taken its place, alongside other nation building measures, to reintegrate all South Africans to their languages, culture, history and heritage. The White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage (1996) states: “Cultural expression and identity stand alongside language rights and access to land as some of the most pressing issues of our times.” In a period of national regeneration and restoration, therefore, it is disconcerting that arts, culture and heritage studies lag behind other learning fields and lack reference material, similar to historical material being developed under the auspices of the South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), a presidential lead project launched on 21 March 2001. SADET seeks to record, in the words of President Thabo Mbeki, “the history of our liberation struggle, keep track of the road to democracy and celebrate the heroes, the heroines and the masses that have built and are building, that have walked and are walking, along this difficult road of freedom and hope”. The Encyclopaedia of South African Arts and Culture will be the equivalent of Road to Democracy in South Africa, the SADET multi-volume history the president says will tell “the story of our ‘Road to Democracy’” since the 1960s; the encyclopaedia will go further back in time to record and celebrate, in its manifold manifestations, the people’s unfolding culture of liberation that is laying the foundation for the new South Africa. It will provide South Africans and others interested in the field comprehensive reference material to understanding (a) aspects of South African arts and culture from antiquity to the present and (b) the rich cultural diversity characteristic of South African society. Failure to produce comprehensive and cutting edge research and scholarship in arts, culture and heritage studies is a drawback to conserving and understanding the unfolding culture of our liberation and appreciating its import in nation building and reconciliation – that is, in cultivating “mutual respect and tolerance” through our “shared cultural identity constituted by diversity”. This, in turn, militates against the achievement of national goals, expressed in the White Paper, in which the national Department of Arts and Culture sets itself the following objectives, among others: Human Rights: To ensure that all persons, groups and communities have the right to equal opportunities to participate in the arts and culture, to conserve and develop their cultural heritage. Access: To ensure unhindered access to the means of artistic and cultural activity, information and enjoyment in both financial and geographical senses. Redress: To ensure the correction of historical and existing imbalances through development, education, training and affirmative action with regard to race, gender, rural and urban considerations. Nation building: To foster a sense of pride and knowledge in all aspects of South African culture, heritage and the arts [and to] encourage mutual respect and tolerance and inter-cultural exchange between the various cultures and forms of art to facilitate the emergence of a shared cultural identity constituted by diversity. Diversity: To ensure the recognition of aesthetic pluralism and a diversity of artistic forms, within a multicultural context. Conservation: To conserve the full diversity of South African heritage and traditions. Achievement: To recognise achievement and foster the development of shared standards of excellence. Innovation: To encourage artistic creativity, experimentation and artistic renewal. Sustainability: To encourage self-sufficiency, sustainability and viability in the arts and culture. The project is thus crucial to developing a truly multi-cultural society predicated on the principles of democratic cultural pluralism – the construction of sacred spaces (i) for the harmonisation of society, (ii) for the interplay between different cultural configurations, and (iii) to contribute to better understanding of the new parameters of our nationhood. The Encyclopaedia of South African Arts and Culture is a major multi-year project of national significance that aims to produce multi-volume, multi-media work of encyclopaedic scope that will encompass the verbal, performing and visual arts as well as many expressions of South African cultural heritage. Cultural literacy in our plural society, cultural industry and cultural diplomacy will benefit from the availability of user-friendly information the Encyclopaedia will supply, in its electronic and print forms. The gestation period for the project will be five years to produce the first editions in all arts/culture/heritage areas under consideration; thereafter, the project will have galvanised sufficient resources from grants and endowments to become institutionalised and to set itself on a self-sustaining path. Cost estimates in the five years it will take to complete all four volumes of the Encyclopaedia range between R3.75 million in the first year rising to R5.5 million in the fifth year. Thereafter the costs chiefly of updates should taper down. The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) will become the lead organisation and home of the Encyclopaedia of South African Arts and Culture. DAC will encourage cognate departments (Education, Tourism, Trade and Industry, etc.) to come on board. Other partners envisaged include provincial departments, academic institutions, National Heritage Foundation, Freedom Park, National Arts Council, National Film and Video Foundation, national science councils, SABC, BASA, parastatals, music/book industry, and the private sector. The project will get underway in April 2007, with the official launch scheduled for 24 September 2007 (Heritage) by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, at the Centre for African Literary Studies (CALS), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN-Pietermaritzburg) from where the project will be administered. |