For those in the arts and creative industries, there is another opportunity to be rewarded for their contributions to those sectors and to society in general. A new award for the industry has just been announced by South Africa’s minister of arts and culture, Zizi Kodwa.
The minister announced the awards while briefing the media on Tuesday. In his words,” This is another way in which government is developing a participatory cultural platform by supporting artists and arts and culture initiatives, as essential elements to stimulate the growth of the country’s creative economy.”
While the details of the awards have not been shared, the general reception of the announcement has been positive, with members of the public stating that something like this was long overdue to recognise that sector which rarely gets government recognition, compared to others.
And yet there were those who were somewhat mordant about the new awards, not believing it would make an impact or count for much when it eventually goes public and other awards in the country.
Interestingly, at the time of writing, most of the top figures in the industries had yet to speak about the recently announced awards. it would be interesting to see what their takes would be, of course. Stay tuned
