(Kim Sanssoucie, who
will be leading the research)
Business and Arts South Africa in partnership with British
Council Connect ZA launched a ground breaking project that aims to
significantly impact the development and sustainability of South Africa’s
creative market.
The Guide is an open-access online platform that is
specifically focused on training creatives, producers, arts organisations and
practitioners to grow their market. This is the initial step in the larger
vision towards a Creative Market Growth Hub.
A Guide to Growing Creative Markets is an animated,
interactive e-learning programme that provides tools and insights on how to
become a self-sustainable business or organisation within the creative markets.
“We are thrilled to have partnered with British Council
Connect ZA for a project aimed at significantly cultivating creative market
development skills within South Africa’s creative and cultural industries,”
commented Michelle Constant, BASA CEO.
“We have already undertaken a small sample of real world
testing of the guide that we’ve launched, and the results have been
overwhelmingly positive. We have no doubt that this is the first step in the
creation of a new platform that will impact the South African creative and
cultural industries in a sustained and ongoing way.”
VANSA’s Molemo Moiloa, one of the e-learner’s testers, commented:
“I thought the use of existing organisational examples – and ones in
relationship with BASA – was great.
“Definitely, it helps you position your art in more
strategic light,” added Trevor Smith founder of Poetso Music Project.
We are currently undergoing intensive research in the
development of the Creative Markets Growth Hub. This research is being led by
Kim Sanssoucie, a member of the BASA team, and one of the original Research
Fellows of Connecting Creative Markets.
Sanssoucie is an actress, dancer, writer who graduated in
Drama and Performance; Media and Communications from the University of
KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.
“The e-learning guide is the first step towards a broader
Creative Markets Growth Hub, which is intended to become a focal point for
creative market development thinking, research and online training within
Africa,” said Sanssoucie. “We are currently rolling out an in-depth research
phase to fully understand the challenges the creative sector is facing in
maintaining and developing their markets.”
Sanssoucie is a Fellow of Connecting Creative Markets – a
partnership between BASA and British Council Connect ZA that was inaugurated in
2015. This market development programme indicated a serious need in the
Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) for more informed research, knowledge
and skills on current and potential audiences, consumers and markets. A Guide
to Growing Creative Markets showcases initial results, lessons learned and
unique South African case studies that have emerged from the Connecting
Creative Markets partnership.
Sanssoucie will work alongside a UK market development
research expert in developing and implementing an effective research strategy
to inform the nature and content for the fully realised Creative Markets Growth
Hub in the future.
“As was evidenced by the Connecting Creative Markets
fellowship and workshops in South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique, most members
of the African creative industries visited had insufficient knowledge and
resources to become consumer focused organisations,” added Sanssoucie. “This
limits their potential for maximising platforms where individuals can see,
experience, admire, and purchase their creative work, thus impacting on the
sustainability of the organisations’ work and income generation, as well as the
broader societal value of the CCIs.”
The Guide to Growing Creative Markets is a free online
platform that is open to all creative industries players interested in building
their markets for consumers of creative practice, goods or services. To access
the platform visit www.basa.co.za
For more information, contact Kim Sanssoucie kim@basa.co.za
or the BASA Offices on 011 447 2295.
(This information is
published on the Arts & Culture Trust’s blog – see http://www.act.org.za)
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