Arts, Culture & Heritage

Nothing defines a country and makes it unique like its culture. Visiting art galleries, monuments, museums and experiencing living traditions or trying indigenous cuisines are without doubt the best guides to discovering a country.

Since the declaration of COVID19 as a global pandemic, the global Cultural and Creative Sector has not been spared, ways of working have drastically changed shifting to working more online and observing social distancing. The earning capacity of the individuals within this sector continue to deteriorate,k threatening livelihoods resulting in increased levels of poverty and vulnerability of the sector. The Cultural and Creative Sector has limited coordination mechanisms thereby weakening the strategic positioning of the sector and decreasing its ability to access opportunities for coordinated investments, partnerships and capacity development for sustainable growth. Limited structures for collective organizing and advocacy have exposed the sector challenges to have a collective voice to access existing social protection mechanisms through Government processes. The current economic development trajectory does not prioritize investing in the Cultural and Creative Sector as a key actor in the economy. This has eroded the confidence, professionalism and aspirations for sector growth thereby short-changing the economy on untapped opportunities.

“The arts matter because art is meant to move people either on an intellectual or emotional level. Whether this is a book that stays with you days later, or a performance that moves you spiritually or a song that makes you look at the world around you in a different way. The purpose of art is to cause a reaction and with this purpose it can create a synergy of change; change in attitudes, perceptions, and thoughts.” – Catherine Brookes.