For the past two years, as the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented change, the arts sector has been subjected to constant postponement and upheaval.
Artists have been waylaid and dismayed, but they have also become live-streamed and in many cases they have reinvented themselves.
How might all this affect our relationship to the arts? And where do we begin to rethink the ways in which art is factored into our daily lives?
Art, by its nature, is “for the people”: the voice – or, rather, the voices – of a nation. It should be accessible not only to the theatregoer, the music aficionado and the visual art enthusiast but to every citizen. The notion of the arts as elite or exclusionary has increasingly become a thing of the past. Art is not only on stages and in galleries. It’s in the streets, on your phone, in the way you dress. It’s the content creators and the radio DJs. The graffiti, the beat, the movement of a city.
Sponsors of the arts, too, have had to adjust their sense of what art means – and what it means to be an arts patron. Corporate brands have a role to play in shaking up the very notion of what art is and re-framing it as something that’s inside all of us.
A good example of this is Standard Bank, which has been a strong supporter of the arts in South Africa for over four decades. This legacy of investing in the arts is a mutually beneficial one: Standard Bank can point to a long history of helping the arts to thrive and remain accessible, which in turn has secured it sustained positive brand association.
Standard Bank’s recent emphasis has been on making dreams possible in and through the arts; it has sought innovative approaches to this challenge, reiterating its contribution to recognising artistic excellence, supporting tomorrow's artists and reminding South Africans that art is a part of our everyday lives.
This is the vision behind the launch of Art, Siphakathi Inside – a commitment to encourage expression and appreciation not only from anyone, but from everyone.
Standard Bank Head of Sponsorships, Desiree Pooe, presents it as a message to audiences young and old: “Art exists within all of us. Come in, singaphakathi. Here’s your seat.” Pooe continues: “We’ve been on this journey for a while – COVID-19 has forced us to think about things in new ways – and we’re committed to taking the joy of the arts to people from all walks of life. We want to break down those barriers and those old perceptions around the arts, to change what we think the arts are and what they can be.”
It remains to be seen how the Art, Siphakathi Inside initiative may spur South Africans on to a place where the arts are bold, fresh, urgent, exciting and enjoyed by all. But it is refreshing to see a company inviting artists, audiences, viewers, listeners – everyone – to join a movement that will shake things up.
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