Culture plays an important role in the life any society. It is one of the decisive features of a society without which it loses its completeness. Like politics, economy and social relations, culture is one of the basic features if any society. The relationship between culture and society is not only organic but also defining.
“Culture is the lifeblood of a vibrant society, imagine the future expressed in the many ways we tell our stories, celebrate, remember the past, entertain ourselves and imagine the future.”
In order to make the relationship between culture and society, it would be relevant to look at the definition below. “Society refers to a group of people living together in a community with common traditions, interests and institutions. Culture refers to the norms and social behaviors found in society such as customs habits, beliefs and laws.”
In 1958 a British writer called Raymond Williams wrote a book entitled, “Culture and Society in which he elaborated the rise of culture in British society by saying that, “the notion of culture developed in response to the industrial revolution and social political changes it brought in its wake.” This does not however mean that a country should go through an industrial revolution before developing its culture.
Culture develops even in pre-industrial societies such as in Africa where there was no industrial revolution while communities developed their respective cultures according to their specific economic and social realities. ‘Africa has numerous ethnic nationalities all with varying qualities such as language, dishes, greetings dressing dance and music.’
Although culture emerges naturally or spontaneously in any society, its development however requires further societal engagement in the form of investment in culture that can fuel the overall socio-economic growth of any country. Culture is important because it helps to define our identity and it is a major part of our daily lives.
Cultural development necessarily entails societal engagement in one form or another because culture develops within society and the voluntary participation of its members whether this participation is a conscious or an unconscious one. African culture is a social structure, ideas, and creative expressions of African communities.
According to a recent research entitled, “Soft Power-Can Africa’s Creativity Transform the Continent?” The aim of this report was to explore young Africans’ narratives about the importance and relevance of creativity in their lives and in the continent’s development. Societal engagement in artistic and cultural creativity in Africa can be seen from at least two points of views. The first might be individual engagement whereby often wealthy individuals invest their money to invest in artistic creativity either for personal consumption or for sale.
The late development of capitalism in Africa and the low level of modern cultural creativity were not conducive to the emergence of an elite class of consumers of art and culture for their own enjoyment, as investment or as an industry. As a result of this, the art and culture market was and is still controlled by foreign businessmen who invested huge amounts of money to engage in legal and illegal art markets within the continent as well as in the global art market.
By definition, commercialization of culture and art in Africa can be seen as an example of capitalism where economic forces shape the production of artistic content. In this content, art is not just a form of expression, but also a source of profit. This can lead to tension between artistic integrity and financial gain.
The commercialization of African art is a relatively recent phenomenon. According to Wikipedia, “the commercialization of African art has led to some challenges, including the risk of becoming a forefront for Western art curators and critics.” This process may be seen as both expression of creativity and a means of making money particularly among young African artists and their patrons who invest heavily on artistic and cultural products.
The commercialization of art and culture has also advantageous repercussions. It has inspired a new generation of young African artists and cultural workers to display their talents and at the same time attracted foreign and local investors participate in the budding art market. The music and cinema industries in particular were at the forefront of the newly developing artistic industry that quickly affirmed its profitable potentials and attracted huge investments. Nigeria is a case in point where the national commercial bank was instrumental to the growth and development of the Nigerian film industry that has now become the biggest movie industry in Africa known as Nollywood, and the third biggest in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood.
The participation of banks in the development of the film and music industry in Nigeria had also ripple effects. The process made it obvious that these industries were profitable and attracted other investors from other sectors of the economy. Successive musicians and actors had the opportunity to open their own studios and become independent producers and proved competitive in a relatively short time. This in turn led to the creation of many jobs within these industries as well as the emergence new talents that were deprived of outlets through which they could express themselves.
Young artists enjoyed the commercial bonanzas from these industries and became very rich. Many talented musicians and actors thus became very rich in a relatively short time as their products found ready consumers in the Western countries where the young Diaspora population became a large market for African music and cinema that are now competitive with their Western counterparts.
The ripple effects of the birth and growth of Nigerian music and film industries had a huge impact on the country’s economic development as Hollywood in its earlier decades had similar impact on American economy. These art and culture industries pay huge taxes to the government as well as spend a lot of money on buying new technology and in training young technicians and a tech-savvy generation.
The capacity for wealth generation and commercialization of African art and culture varies from one country to the other and Nigeria can be described as an exception to the rule because they started on a solid foundation both in the availability investment, marketing and the availability artistic talents. The ideal combination of these three factors may be considered as a powerful engine that propelled the industries forward and catapulted them to the world market. For a long time in the past, art and culture in Africa were marginalized and overlooked as items of luxury consumption by art connoisseurs. The majority of people in many African countries could not see the commercial potentials of the art industry. The Indian model of artistic industry might have given the necessary inspiration for the growth of its Nigerian counterparts.
The same can be said about the recently emerging artistic industry in China whose success is based on the imitation of the Hollywood and Western business models. However, the Chinese success was based on the imitation and importation of Western models of co-productions, studio purchases or the importation of technical knowhow, while they could at the same time develop a domestic art and culture industry that has now become the envy of many Western countries.
At present the African art industry is a growing and dynamic sector that includes art sales, exhibitions and related industries. Here are some examples. The African visual art industry is worth over 13 billion dollars, including visual art sales, exhibitions and related industries. The African art market has grown significantly in recent decades, with increased interests from collectors and institutions worldwide.
The market drivers in Africa art industry have also played a critical role in its growth. The African art market has been driven by factors such as the emergence of new opportunities, heightened global awareness and involving tastes of collectors. Despite the growing presence of female artists, the African art market is still dominated by male artists. Nigeria has the largest art market in Africa with an estimated value of over 500 million dollars. The lesson from this is that most successful African art industries witnessed periods of booms due to the vast local financial support their required for their growth. As in our example above, the Nigerian film industry could not have attained its present level of growth without the generous loans the banks offered at the initial stage of its development.
Creative and cultural industries in Africa obviously need local support if they want to grow like their more successful counterparts. This in turn requires the availability of a culture conscious local investment groups that would take the risks of investment while using the available opportunities. Promoting popular consciousness about culture and cultural activities would also help the emergence of a culture conscious public as a potential consumer. There is a lot to be learned from the successful art and culture industries in Africa with lessons worth emulating by the less developed ones because it may prove a shortcut to success.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The Ethiopian Herald December 8/2024
