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NEIL AGGETT LABOUR STUDIES UNIT (NALSU) Labour Studies Seminar Series, Rhodes University, South Africa.
WEBINAR: Wednesday, 17 November 2021, online via Zoom (details below), 4 pm
TOPIC & SPEAKER: Jen Snowball (& Andre Gouws), SACO, "One Year On: The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Workers in Cultural and Creative Industries in South Africa"
Worldwide, COVID-19 lockdowns have hit the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) especially hard. Workers in the sector are especially vulnerable to lockdowns, as much of the work is face-to-face, many jobs are freelance and short-term, and in South Africa and elsewhere, there are high levels of informality. Furthermore, many cultural sector workers do not qualify for government support because they lack formal contracts and/ or business records. Artists' social movements, such as "Light SA Red" and "I'm 4 the Arts" have tried to highlight the plight of these workers, but, as press reports have shown, state aid has been limited, erratic and inequitable. This paper draws on research by the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) on how South African CCI firms and freelancers have been affected by, and have tried to survive, the lockdown. Responses were obtained from all parts of the sector, including design, film, heritage, music, performing arts, publishing, support activities and video, and data was also drawn from the industry. SACO is a national research organisation funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and hosted by Nelson Mandela University, in partnership with the universities of Rhodes University, Fort Hare and University of Kwazulu Natal.
SPEAKERS: Jen Snowball is Professor of Economics at Rhodes University, South Africa, and a researcher at the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO). Her research interests are mainly in the fields of cultural and environmental economics. Dr Andre Gouws, her co-author on this report, is an independent economic consultant specialising in macroeconomic modelling, international trade, and the cultural and creative industries.
More about SACO: https://www.southafricanculturalobservatory.org.za/
JOINING: register in advance for the seminar, which will use Zoom, by going
to:
Register in advance for this meeting:
WEBINAR: Wednesday, 17 November 2021, online via Zoom (details below), 4 pm
TOPIC & SPEAKER: Jen Snowball (& Andre Gouws), SACO, "One Year On: The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Workers in Cultural and Creative Industries in South Africa"
Worldwide, COVID-19 lockdowns have hit the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) especially hard. Workers in the sector are especially vulnerable to lockdowns, as much of the work is face-to-face, many jobs are freelance and short-term, and in South Africa and elsewhere, there are high levels of informality. Furthermore, many cultural sector workers do not qualify for government support because they lack formal contracts and/ or business records. Artists' social movements, such as "Light SA Red" and "I'm 4 the Arts" have tried to highlight the plight of these workers, but, as press reports have shown, state aid has been limited, erratic and inequitable. This paper draws on research by the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) on how South African CCI firms and freelancers have been affected by, and have tried to survive, the lockdown. Responses were obtained from all parts of the sector, including design, film, heritage, music, performing arts, publishing, support activities and video, and data was also drawn from the industry. SACO is a national research organisation funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and hosted by Nelson Mandela University, in partnership with the universities of Rhodes University, Fort Hare and University of Kwazulu Natal.
SPEAKERS: Jen Snowball is Professor of Economics at Rhodes University, South Africa, and a researcher at the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO). Her research interests are mainly in the fields of cultural and environmental economics. Dr Andre Gouws, her co-author on this report, is an independent economic consultant specialising in macroeconomic modelling, international trade, and the cultural and creative industries.
More about SACO: https://www.
JOINING: register in advance for the seminar, which will use Zoom, by going
to:
Register in advance for this meeting:
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://zoom.us/meeting/
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. After registering, you will
receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
HOSTS: The series is run by the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) in partnership with the Departments of Sociology & Industrial Sociology, and Economics & Economic History, Rhodes University and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).
NALSU, based in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, is engaged in policy, research and workers' education. Built around a vibrant team from disciplines including Economics, History and Sociology, it has active partnerships and relations with a range of advocacy, labour and research organisations. It draws strength from its location in a province where the legacy of apartheid and the cheap labour system, and the contradictions of the post-apartheid state, are keenly felt. We are named in honour of Dr Neil Hudson Aggett, a union organiser and medical doctor who died in 1982 in an apartheid jail after enduring brutality and torture.