Africa – the passionate continent … continued

In the meantime our summer holidays have come and gone; new year’s resolutions have been made (and probably broken); the economic crisis continues to persist; the ANC begun year-long celebrations of its centenary; and we all continue to ‘do our thing’... life goes on.

So to get back to my topic… The big question of course is: reducing dependency on what? We don’t experience it in this country in the same way, but on the rest of the continent national government agendas are often shaped by the foreign aid agenda. And this keeps them trapped in a never-ending cycle of dependence and reliance on aid. For artists and arts organisations, the issue of reducing dependency on external support and not being driven by other people’s agendas is a very important first step.

In this country we experience it in a slightly different way, where we have grown to have a demand and expectation that “government will/must provide”. This keeps us in a permanent state of resentment because government will never be able to provide what everyone needs, when they need it. Apart from the fact that resentment is a profoundly unproductive space to be in – do we want to be in a position where we have to rely on someone else to make progress?

Instead one needs to find one’s way into a positive space where one can take ownership of one’s own direction. It’s being comfortable enough in one’s own skin and confident enough in one’s own ability to not only make your own decisions about who, what, how, where you want to go – but give effect to that plan. It’s being able to recognise what support will help you to move forward, and being resourceful enough to activate that which you need – not what someone else thinks you need.

It’s the point at which you move from being a victim of your circumstance to taking charge of shaping your life.

Don’t hold me to this, but I’ve found that usually when you make a choice about something, somehow the right support comes along. Of course it’s way easier said than done. But it’s probably the first and maybe most important first step to sustainability.

Being able to analyse one’s own circumstances; judge with honesty one’s own strength and weaknesses; identify a clear vision of where you would like to be, the steps you need to take to get there, and the level of passion you need to keep that vision alive. Understanding that the path might be full of potholes and you’re going to have to adapt and regroup along the way. Therein lies the root of sustainability.

It’s not at all about being a lone ranger and going it alone. You will always be dependent on something: a market to buy your product, a workforce to help produce it, family and friends to encourage and nurture. It’s your attitude, and how you manage these resources, that make all the difference.

I think we’ve come to equate the idea of sustainability with money. But it’s only one of many conditions required. In our context, I think they are:

1. People – skilled and trained people with access to facilities and resources
2. Resources – material, technology, specialised skill, money
3. Networks – people and businesses that are connected into networks and relationships that provide access, knowledge, information, support and connections into more networks and relationships
4. Audience/market – a community that appreciates and values cultural products and experiences so that they will choose local and engage with it actively
5. Enabling environment – where the physical, social and economic systems work smoothly and support and enable.
6. Maintaining a light footprint on the earth.

This understanding of what sustainability means in our sector is critical to our methodology. We believe the answer to sustainability lies with you. We can ask the right and difficult questions. Pose some of the possible answers. Show some of the paths. But ultimately the decision rests with you because only you know what you want to do; what your vision is; what you are capable of. It is your vision. You need to keep returning to it. I know this frustrates people sometimes – where they have an expectation that we will and must given the answer: what product to make, what market to enter, what price to set. And it’s frustrating when we simply refuse to... so now you know why:

It’s up to you. Africa will rise, when its citizens take charge of their own destiny. Which they are, increasingly, one (heart-connected, passionate, considered) decision at a time.

*Sustainable: “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level” Oxford dictionary