ARTISTS, art educators, curators and gallery owners gathered at the launch of The Intellectual Properties Exhibition 2019 earlier this month.
This is a networking event where people are able to talk to each other to see how art creations and creativity in Durban can be monetised and how the art and culture community is Durban can be grown.
Speaking at the event, Rowena Gilpin, spoke about Intellectual Properties as a movement.
“Intellectual Properties, the brain child of Robin Opperman, is now a registered NPO. Last year we registered the entity and started strategising. This year we plan to hold an exhibition in October, which is a thriving hub of creativity, and are also planning workshops, setting up bursaries and aim to take local artists internationally to take part in trade shows,” she said.
The Denis Hurley Centre’s director, Raymond Perrier took the lead to question panelists author Zainub Dala, the US Consul General Sherry Sykes, Maggie Reddy from the African Art Centre and Angela Shaw from the KZNSA Art Gallery on what role arts and crafts can play in the South African economy.
Shaw said the creative economy was very powerful and people involved in the arts and crafts needed to work at it and be smart about it. Reddy agreed that there had been a boom in visual arts which had generated a lot of income over the past 10 years, but felt there was still a gap in the Durban market.
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“There is a bigger gap in disposable income compared to Johannesburg and Cape Town. We need to look at why people are not buying art and attending exhibitions locally. We need to look at why artists have to leave Durban for Cape Town and Johannesburg and we need to improve confidence in Durban artists,” she said.
Responding to the topic, Dala, who was part of the bid for Durban to be chosen as a UNESCO City of Literature, said that vibrant and viable cities needed to share their experiences and alternate culture of knowledge with Durban.
“It’s not only about hard cash, we need to plug into all creative cities to see what they are doing right. Iowa City, the first UNESCO City, is our mentor city, and we are learning from them how they achieved an upsurge of creativity,” she said.
Art teacher at Eden College, Brigitta Gaylard, shared her insight from the floor, that she as an educator was fighting the attitude that the visual arts is a gift that needs to be given away.
“Children need to be taught that what they produce is valuable and they should sell their art, not give it away,” she said.
Shaw added that local galleries were working together to promote each other to build the arts in Durban and attract people to Durban.
“We breed some of the best talent in the world and we need to grow the position of Durban as an amazing cultural destination,” she said.
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