Arts, Craft & Culture

• National Heritage Day was celebrated in Limpopo in 2009

It is said that Polokwane has more public sculptures than any comparably sized city in South Africa. The city council has initiated
plans to create a 15-metre bronze sculpture to adorn the major entrance to the city, and the intention is to unveil this in March 2010.

Ten percent of the tender amount for this sculpture is allocated to the training of four young sculptors, a neat metaphor for how important arts and culture can be in economic upliftment. The award of the national PPC Young Sculptor of the Year in 2007 to Phanuel Mabaso showed the extent of the province’s talent. Mabaso currently runs the African Images Sculpture School and has 20 students enrolled.

Arts, crafts and culture form an important part of the economic development strategy of Limpopo, as it does at national level. Heritage Month 2009 focused on developing the crafts sector, aiming to help the creators of crafts become entrepreneurs.

The national Heritage Day event was held in Moroke, Sekhukhune. Since 2005, the National Department of Arts and Culture has funded 409 projects which have produced 10 939 jobs.

A provincial Arts, Crafts and Tourism Cluster exists to guide policy and to help informal artists become more competitive and to enhance the attractiveness of Limpopo as a commercial and tourist destination. The
cluster includes a regional development centre, three local centres and a village-tourism network. Indirect beneficiaries include potters,
jewellers, musicians, woodcarvers, weavers, tour guides and other workers in the sector.

An Ndebele bead project in Sekhukhuneland called Siya Pothela illustrates what can be done with imagination and effort. With
the assistance of the Tourism Enterprise Project and the National Department of Trade and Industry, the women beaders are selling their wares as far afield as Italy.

Venda, Tsonga and Pedi crafts can be viewed at the Polokwane Museum. The Vutsila Art Centre and Kubasa (a private enterprise making Venda and Tsonga items) are both near Makhado.

Cultural villages form an important part of the tourist offering in Limpopo, with every region celebrating its own unique culture:
examples include the Bakone Malapa Northern Sotho Museum (Polokwane); Tsonga Kraal Museum (near Tzaneen) and the Mogalakwena Craft Art Village near the Limpopo River. The unique patterns that occur when Pedi and Tsonga people live together are
celebrated in the modern pottery produced by Afrikania, situated near Phalaborwa.

The Mapungubwe Arts Festival runs over nine days in December in Polokwane. An initiative of the Provincial Department of Sport, Arts
and Culture, it showcases every form of art and has positive economic spin-offs for small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs.

ONLINE RESOURCES
Arts and Culture Trust: www.act.org.za
Artslink: www.artlink.co.za
Business and Arts South Africa (BASA): www.basa.co.za
Design Institute SA: www.sabs.co.za
Limpopo Department of Sport, Arts and Culture: www.sac.limpopo.gov.za
Mapungubwe: www.mapungubwe.com
National Arts Council: www.nac.org.za
Tourism Enterprise Project: www.tep.co.za

 

















(C) 2007 Limpopo Business | TradeInvestSA

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