For art’s sake, send help before it’s final curtain!

When a young woman from SA’s battered creative industry recently made an appeal for sanitary products on a social media platform, it brought into the spotlight the financial plight of thousands like her because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Musicians, visual artists, graphic designers, actors, crafters, DJs and technical and support staff are among the many thousands bearing the brunt of the pandemic, with events being prohibited as part of lockdown measures.

This comes amid calls from creatives for the resignation of sport, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa, after a controversial tweet that sparked outcry last month.

Mthethwa tweeted on January 15 that “South African theatre is alive and well with performing arts institutions of the department such as @ArtscapeTheatre, @MarketTheatre, @PACOFS3, @DurbanPlayhouse, @statetheatre and @WindybrowTheatr (sic) offering an array of indigenous drama and dance and so on”.

In the wake of the outcry from disgruntled artists, who have accused his department of not adequately assisting with relief funding during the pandemic, the minister issued an apology for his Twitter faux pas.

The department then announced it was fast-tracking a third phase of relief funding for the industry – to continue efforts to alleviate the plight of affected artists.

The third phase was launched last week.

But those in the creative sector say the funding effort has brought little or no relief.

According to an assessment done by The SA Cultural Observatory when the pandemic hit last year, the impact has been “immediate and quite severe”.

Key findings included:

• Only 12% of respondents believed they could continue with 50% or more of their work.
• 40% of respondents were now using their reserves to survive, with 21% stating that they were relying on friends and family.
• Only 25% of respondents believed they would qualify for the support offered by government largely due to the fact that their businesses remained informal.

Soweto-born singer Sibongile Mngoma, founder of the Im4theArts Facebook group, said: “When a female creative asked for help to get sanitary pads on the Im4theArts group, it was clear we all needed to come together and pool all our resources to help ease some of the pressure creatives are feeling.”

This sparked the Care4Creatives campaign, which grew out of the call for action to help creatives with things many people take for granted, such as toiletries.

“This campaign is simple – drop off essentials at Transwerke Studios located at Constitution Hill, and we will create packs for creatives to collect. This can include soap, toothpaste, deodorants, sanitary towels, shampoo, basic items that are needed for personal care. Any and all donations are welcome,” said Mngoma.

When a female creative asked for help to get sanitary pads on the Im4theArts group it was clear that we had to pool our resources to help ease some of the pressure creatives are feeling.

—  Sibongile Mngoma

“Running a creative hub in Johannesburg, we have seen the impact of Covid on our community. Exhibitions are not possible like they used to be; walkabouts are quieter; art fairs are no longer happening. Our community is finding it harder and harder to access markets to sell to. This campaign is about both coming together to support and offering basic essentials to those in need,” said Zanele Mashinini, project manager at Benrose Studios.

In September last year several KZN artists were arrested after they staged a protest on the N3, calling at the time for government to amend regulations to allow concerts and events at 70% of the capacity any given venue could accommodate.

Durban musician Thokozani “Tzozo” Zulu said artists “want our industry to operate like the taxi/public transport sector — while monitoring that safety regulations are followed”.

“When artists and DJs are not getting booked, they begin losing their possessions such as cars, jewellery and even houses. The worst is that they begin experiencing problems at home with their families and spouses over finances,” he said.

Pretoria DJ Karabo “AfroMove” Ntsoane said the pandemic had negatively affected his career.

“We are subjected to being indoors now, not being able to perform music to larger crowds. As much as we are able to make more music because we have more time to do so, it is difficult to promote the music to people, as not everyone has access to the internet to be up to date with the music we release.

“Government isn’t assisting me, whether it was before the pandemic or during.”

Ntsoane said he did meet certain criteria for government’s relief fund and did not apply.

“I think the relief fund wasn’t planned for sustainability but just to show that something is being done instead of nothing happening.”

Artistic director Mark Hawkins said the pandemic had affected “all the creatives in a really hard and brutal way”.

He appealed to South Africans for toiletries to the Care4Creatives campaign.

“That all costs money, and a lot of us don’t have any of that.

“There have been other campaigns for food vouchers which have got us through almost a year, and we thought it was going to be three weeks,” said Hawkins.

The department in a statement said the implementation of the third phase of relief funding “took into cognisance of the identified challenges of the first and second phases”.

“Broader consultation with the sector were undertaken in preparation for the third phase.

“To date the department has implemented the first and second phases of the Covid-19 relief fund. Nearly 5,000 practitioners were recommended for the first phase, and over R80m was paid out to the sector. In the second phase and as of the 14th of December 2020, over R2m was paid out to practitioners in the sector. Three thousand six hundred and fifty-eight (3,658) practitioners benefited from the Solidarity Fund with a total of nearly R3m that was paid out.

“Through DSAC’s partnership with the department of small business development (DBSA), over R5m was paid out to practitioners within the sector, with a further estimated R13m to be disbursed by the end of March 2021.

“In spite of our best efforts, the department is fully cognisant of the fact that there are many others who did not benefit from these programmes, given the department’s finite budget. With that said, we have and will continue to engage national organisations in line with our open door policy.”