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