DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE
GUIDELINES FOR THE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE (CAC) AWARDS
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The
Department of Arts and Culture established the Community Arts Centre Programme
between 1996 and 2001 through its RDP Programme of Culture in Community (CIC).
The main reasons were:
1.
To provide opportunities for artists and cultural
workers participation in the arts
2.
To create opportunities for employment and
3.
To cultural enrichment with a focus on youth, women
and children not excluding the disabled persons.
Added to
the newly developed Arts Centres, are Historical Community Arts Centres that
played a vital role during the democratic struggle by providing informal arts
education and training. These Centres also provided access to cultural activities,
often in support of anti-apartheid initiatives.
The third
category of Community Arts Centres was born out of the GCIS’ concept of
Multipurpose Community Centres (MPCCs). In the MPCCs, cultural programmes are
offered to communities where there are no arts centres and they function in the
same way that community arts Centres do. The vision of the DAC with regards to
community Arts Centres is to establish a network of vibrant policy driven
Community Arts Centres that have the capacity for sustainable delivery of
appropriate services in terms of national, provincial and local socio-economic
development priorities and that effectively interact with relevant development
institutions and processes.
RATIONALE FOR COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE AWARDS
Prior to
1994, Community Arts Centres were not sufficiently supported by government.
This led to a continued lack of capacity within most community Arts. Most of
these Centres were left empty and eventually vandalized. Over the past ten
years, efforts have been made by the three spheres of government and community
structures to revive Community Arts Centres. The proposed awards are therefore
seen as an effort not only to increase capacity but also to encourage
excellence.
The
Community Arts Centre Award is the initiative of the Department of Arts and
Culture, which aims to recognize community arts Centres that have made progress
in addressing the challenges of service delivery in arts and culture. These
priorities are
·
Poverty reduction: Income generation through
productions and sustainability of projects
·
Job creation and economic empowerment: Centres should
be able to employ not less than 10 individual contract/ permanent positions,
and at least 5 service provider/s enlisted for empowerment
·
Skills Development in the arts: A minimum of 3 groups
or 20 individuals receiving training in at least 5 different art forms. Skills
development to be linked to either MAPPP Seta, Department of Labour, Higher
Education Institution, Accredited Service Provider, or the Department of Trade
and Industry
·
Social Cohesion and Nation Building: A centre should
have a programme that promotes inclusivity and cultural diversity
·
Mass participation and access to arts and culture
programmes: A minimum of 350 local people participating in the activities of
the Centres. At least 4 mass participation programmes/ activities provided by
the centre.
The third
purpose of the award is to highlight and elevate the role of community arts
Centres as important vehicles in addressing the above challenges and to enhance
their performance and productivity.
An added value is that the initiative will
NATURE OF THE AWARD
The Community
Arts Centre Award is open to all Community Arts Centres (government and
non-government owned, and MPCCs throughout the country. An application form
will be made available and invitations will be announced in all convenient
methods to reach all communities. A communication and marketing strategy will
be developed. The criteria for selection of the best community centre will
consider the following.
·
Arts and Culture Development
·
Social development and recreation
·
Local economic development
·
Skills and Youth Development
·
Good Governance
·
Community Development and stakeholder involvement
CRITERIA FOR APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT
Community
Arts Centres will apply to participate. The Centres will be categorized under
Community Initiated, Historical Centres, NGO Community Arts Centres and
Government Established CACs. The categorization will ensure that no Community
Arts Centre is left out. All the Community Arts Centres will submit their
Strategic Plans, the actual status core that profiles the nature of available
resources, challenges and how they will improve the situation. The Department
will involve the Cultural Industries Unit to record the status of the Centres
immediately after all applications have been received. With all these available
information the Assessors will be able to measure developments and improvements
of each participating CAC.
Applications
will be distributed to all provincial Departments of Arts and Culture,
Districts and local municipalities.
ASSSESSMENT AND ADJUDICATION
Assessment
will deal with outcomes. This will have indicators that say how many people
have gone through a training programme for example, where they are and what
they are doing. Assessors will develop these indicators and Monitoring
mechanisms
A team of
assessors will be established at both National and Provincial levels of
government. Members will be selected from the DAC, provincial and local
governments and community organization. Members will have to be independent
from and not attached to any community arts centre.
The
Assessor team will be selected based on
·
In depth knowledge of the Arts and Culture Sector.
·
In
depth knowledge of the community arts centre sector
·
Good understanding of organizational development
·
Ability to verify information on the received application
form with valid reasons
·
Good understanding of governance and community needs.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ASSESSORS INCLUDE
·
·
Short listing
·
Verification on application forms through physical
inspection and sites visits
·
Consolidation of assessment reports and presentation
to the Adjudication Panel
The
Adjudication Team will be appointed by the Minister and will remain independent.
PROPOSED AWARDS AND PRIZES
It is
proposed that the CAC Awards be established as an annual event. This award
project will be implemented in 2006 as a pilot. The following prizes are
recommended under each category.
·
1st Prize- R 500 000.00
·
2nd Prize R 300 000.00
·
3rd Prize-R200 000.00