By Art Correspondent
“In Zimbabwe and many African countries one cannot consider national development without the development of a vibrant art and cultural economy” says Dr. Michelina Andreucci, a Zimbabwean art and design education consultant and proprietor of Springstone Art gallery at 5 Idlehurst Way in Avondale.
“The creative economy was the backbone and fulcrum of many ancient societies. Notably in the Shona stone masonry at Great Zimbabwe, ancient iron-workings, jewellery, earthenware ceramics, basketry, mbira music and the various ethnographic dances that abet clan identity and societal bonding. All of these artistic activities facilitated and developed trade and cultural diplomacy”. She added.
Arguably the most unique and visible art form in Zimbabwe is the traditional stonework – an indigenous inherent skill, evidenced by the drystone granite wall edifices of Great Zimbabwe ruins as well as the famous national insignia – the Zimbabwe bird, and a series of circular Iron Age stone buildings spread throughout the country. Great Zimbabwe ruins are now a UNESCO heritage site.
The arts are typically associated with sensitive human qualities such as nurturing artistic talent, appreciation of beauty and the encouragement of personal expression and it might seem contrary to our notions of human and national development.
However, according to Dr. Tony Monda, an academic scholar and educationist, “In the field of contemporary human development, creative thinking and lateral reasoning through the arts have in recent times been acknowledged and singled out as fundamental twenty-first-century skills by many educationists, industry and commerce, civic communities and government leaders.
Through practice and engagement in the arts, our children can learn how to express their unique personal and cultural identities, while concurrently developing practices of thinking that will help them succeed anywhere in life”.
Art education, part of Springstone International Art Gallery’s mandate and promotional trajectory, empowers students to interpret, criticize and use visual information judiciously. It teaches young citizens to make informed design and ideological choices based on the knowledge of Art. The initiative behind Springstone Art Gallery is to make an enabling environment for the growth of the arts sector and creative industry. The creative industries are defined by UNCTAD and UNDP as:
“The creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs for individual and national development”.
These industries encompass a number of disciplines, including visual arts, performing arts, music, dance, film and media, to name a few. They can range from small businesses located in the informal sector, to large million-dollar entities, with global resonance if administered judiciously.
In the United States in recent years, school curricula have shifted heavily toward simple creative activities for some of the basic building blocks of child development.
In fact, learning to create and appreciate visual aesthetics may be more important than ever to the development of the next generation of children as they grow up.
Studies in pedagogy also show that there is a correlation between art and improved academic
performance in other subjects, particularly science and technology-based subjects, where problem-solving is dominant. Thus, when children are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives.
Worldwide the arts and creative economy are no longer considered informal sectors, but are taken seriously and absorbed into the macro economic implications of many of the first world nations.
Zimbabwe need to be cognisant “ . . . that economic development in its broadest definition is the process of creating wealth by mobilising human, fiscal, physical, natural and capital recourses to generate marketable goods and services,” says Dr. Monda
The arts are central to a government that places a vigorous society at the heart of its agenda. Art is the vital bridge and fulcrum between the informal sector and the formal, between micro and macro-economic development and between nationhood and internationalism. Yet, the creative sector of the economy in Zimbabwe has historically been neglected.
The arts, often labelled as ‘an elitist pursuit’, or considered as an irrelevant, inconsequential ‘pastime’, are not recognised for their potential to create development opportunities and generate income.
The government of Botswana recognised the importance of arts as early as the mid-1990s. More recently the governments of Zambia, Namibia and South Africa have enacted robust art development programmes and policies in line with economic development. In Zambia, where the arts have a new ministry, the government is dedicated to developing the arts as a creative industry, putting the arts on the right trajectory. “The PF government has been working to develop an appropriate vehicle with which to drive the practical development of a wider job creation platform, more equitable national development and better international relations through the arts and cultural sector”. Remarked the Arts Minister’s in her speech at the 15th Ngoma Awards.
Art is an intellectual, cultural, economic and national asset. Given, we live in an increasingly diverse society, art also promotes cultural awareness and the process and the experience of thinking and making things better!
“Arts are a discipline that entails critical thinking and problem solving and hence visual art and the creative industry should have a voice at the centre of national development and not on the margins.
Employing art, creativity and innovation as basic human skills for dealing with life’s challenges and inter-personal relationships, community interaction and the creation of new ideas is essential for human and national development.” Say the curators at Springstone International Art Gallery of Avondale, Harare.
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