The ABM and Culture, Eventing and Tourism - Durban

40 Pages·2009·2.16 MB·English

AREA BASED MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY
CASE STUDY:
CULTURE AND EVENTING
Prepared for:
Collin Pillay
ABMD Programme Office
eThekwini Municipality
McINTOSH XABA AND ASSOCIATES
PO Box 61221
Bishopsgate
Durban
4008
[email protected]
November 2007
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Context (the iTrump ABM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 Situational Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4 Context (The INK ABM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5 Situational Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. Learning Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7. Recommendations for a Realignment of Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1 Introduction
Culture, Eventing, and Tourism are promoted by the iTrump and INK ABMs for a
number of reasons.
Both the iTrump and INK ABMs see culture, events and tourism as tools or rather
the means to regenerate the urban environment, change the uses of public
spaces into more productive enterprises that support new and varied kinds of
cultural and recreational activities that purposefully link into and support local
economic development initiatives. A wider and more profound ambition is that in
the process of consulting with stakeholders, implementing policies, generating
economic and social activities and making links with new partners, a respect for
diversity is encouraged out of which a new sense of citizenship and identity
within the localities and the metropolitan municipality as a whole will emerge. In
short, the question of citizenship turns on the question of ‘how to make eThekwini
an inclusionary city by dealing with an exclusionary history’ (Dobson, R.
interview, June 2007).
It is always difficult to define culture (Williams, R. 1983). In the most common
uses of the word it refers to art, crafts, the exotic aspects of people’s way of life
such as rituals, beliefs and practices, or notions of high culture such literature
(the written word in the form of books, novels, plays, poetry), paintings, sculpture,
film etc. But culture can also mean the everyday practices and ways of life of a
people. This descriptive definition suggests that culture is something that humans
create and change according to the circumstances and situations that they find
themselves in. In this case study, the notion of culture refers to the everyday
lives, and practices of people, but the emphasis is on the way in which changes
are taking, or have taken place that give greater voice to people’s public ideas
and practices and the way in which various strategies and tactics are employed
within the framework of laws, rules and regulations of society that expands and
builds that freedom. Thus, we speak of a cultural change engendered by the
process of consultation that allows greater freedom to pursue livelihoods
strategies. One may speak of a culture that is less confrontational and
exclusionary of certain groups of people, that is more consultative and
inclusionary, incorporating new people coming into the city to claim and assert
their rights as citizens. Thus to be able to visit museums and art galleries, and
create artefacts to be exhibited, or sell one’s wares on the street, albeit within the
law, is not just a cultural expression, but also a public cultural practice.
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2 Context (the iTrump ABM)
In the case of the inner city, the supporting of cultural events and tourism related
projects by iTrump (Inner eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management
Programme) is fulfilling their mandate to regenerate the urban centre and to
incorporate and promote new activities or uses around urban spaces.
The components of this urban regeneration are:
 Installing new infrastructure
 Re-construction or redesigning of sites and places
The components of promoting new activities and uses of urban spaces are:
 Being inclusive – accepting and incorporating new people into the city
 Providing the framework in which people can carry out new kinds of
activities
 Trading
 Cultural activities
 Events – sport, leisure, recreation
 Maintaining and promoting health and safety
 Adherence to the rule of law
Culture and Urban Regeneration: Inserting a
2.1
Culture of Engagement, Dialogue and
Participation
A single thread that runs through all the iTrump’s work on supporting cultural
events and tourism in the city is engaging with stakeholders through a process of
discussion and where necessary ensuring their participation. iTrump is the oldest
of the ABMs in the city, but when it started in 2001 there were no established or
clearly formulated rules or procedures that could be followed or models as how to
proceed.
On the first issues that the iTrump had to deal with were street traders. Street
trading is not new to Durban, or unique, but in the late 20th century represented a
complete change in the usage of the city. Although the measures that excluded
black people from the inner city had long passed from the statute books (1986), it
was only in the 1990s that black people, including foreign Africans, began to
dominate the city centre both in terms of accommodation and making a living
through informal trading. Informal trading mainly took the form of trading on the
streets and often, in the past, evinced a confrontation between owners of formal
retail businesses and informal street traders. There were other serious effects
that manifested themselves: waste was left on streets which posed a health
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hazard, the pavements became overcrowded, often spilling on to the streets and
at times too many people trading with the same goods with hardly a difference in
quality or price. However, the city council took the unprecedented step of not
prohibiting trading on the street, but rather sought to control and regulate it,
especially since its own commissioned research estimated that such trading
made a significant contribution to the city’s local economy. It was left to the
iTrump ABM to oversee a process whereby street trading could be regulated.
The iTrump engaged in a serious consultative process with street traders.
 Undertaking a participant observation research process
 Speaking to street traders
 Getting them to organise themselves to represent themselves
 Negotiating over issues such as street permits, fees and allocation of
trading sites.
This process produced a regulated informal street trading arrangement, allowed
for both pedestrians and street traders to use public access routes, and over time
an acceptance by formal retail businesses that such people and their small, often
survivalist trading, is here to stay. One significant outcome of this process was
that street traders themselves were organised to deal with crime. The ABM
assisted street traders to defend themselves by arranging workshops for them to
be trained in making citizen arrests instead of the usual meeting out ‘an informal
and rough justice’ by assaulting any criminal who was so foolish to attempt to rob
a street trader. This action also ingratiated themselves with the formal retail
traders who now accepted them as part of the business environment. Indeed
over time a very productive and collegial relationship between formal and
informal trader developed.
What was the significance of the informal trader with a particular set of new
activities in a public space? There were several important consequences:
 The colonial image of (highly regulated, colonial master-servant
relationships) a ‘white’ inner or core city was challenged and overturned.
 A new form of activities was incorporated into the everyday cultural
practices of the city, where informal traders are considered part of the
cityscape.
 A sense of rights and responsibilities was introduced into the public
discourse.
 A spirit of public voluntarism introduced by informal traders took root - the
combating of crime through their own organised efforts.
From the point of view of the ABM this was a turning point, a success in
engagement, rather than confrontation. Their intervention into the debates about
informal traders produced a significant model of how to interact with the new
migrants to the city centre:
 Consultation, negotiation and participation became key strategies towards
evolving a new policy on informal trading
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 A new segment of civil society was included into the city – in practical
terms the street traders became a significant part of the planning process.
 Informal traders became an organised and institutionalised representative
body that could speak and act on behalf of individuals.
 It produced a set of rights and responsibilities of a particular segment of
the whole society
 A forum was initiated in which to consult and discuss problems and
issues.
In short, there was a turn away from colonial reference points of exclusivity to a
cultural practice of inclusiveness. For the iTrump ABM such practices illustrated
the main elements of a model that could be used to take on new projects for
upgrading and regenerating the urban inner city. But it must be noted that while
the iTrump ABM in principle assisted in making the city more inclusive, the
practice did not extend to all equally. As one official noted, there is a kind of
informal hierarchy among informal traders and the permit issuing authorities as to
who gets preference for a space on the pavement to trade. First come the Zulus,
then other black South Africans, followed by other South Africans and then all the
foreigner African traders. While the street traders represented a challenge in
dealing with one manifestation of new users and their activities in the inner city, it
did not directly highlight initiatives for investing in the infrastructure of the built
environment that allows for new cultural practices to flourish.
3 Situational Analysis
Badsha Peer
3.1
The annual celebrations around Badsha Peer by a segment of the Muslim
population in the city highlights:
 The possibility of co-operation and acceptance of cultural diversity.
 The creation of a built environment with multiple uses.
The tomb of Badsha Peer in the West Street Cemetery is an area with a dense
network of informal traders. All informal traders who hold a permit to trade in the
street along side the tomb are informed that a condition of their permit is that for
two weeks of the year there is an annual Muslim celebration that takes place and
that they would have to cease trading for this period. This agreement was
brokered by the iTrump ABM. While this in itself was a remarkable accord that
respected the diversity of belief systems, and fostered co-operation and
tolerance, it also illustrates the role the ABM played in building structures that
can protect against inclement weather used for both trading and celebrations.
This theme of diversity, often muted or stereotyped in the work of the
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Tomb of Badsha Peer, West Street Cemetery
(Photo: S. Vawda)
municipality, re-emerges in other cultural events in the city, some of which has
been sponsored by the iTrump ABM.
The Music School’s Street Festival of Music
3.2
One of the events that have had the consistent support of the iTrump ABM is the
annual Music School’s street festival. The ABM was not involved in the initial
year of the Music School’s street music festival, but did become involved in
subsequent years. The partnership that evolved between the ABM and the Music
School was one based on a mutual aim of uplifting the area by giving a feel of
vibrancy and developing the area as a cultural node. Now the iTrump began to
think of the city as made up of strategic sectors or nodes of activities, ultimately
linked to the city’s vision of a better life for all those who lived in it.
To implement the idea of halting and uplifting the slow decline of the inner city
area of Albert Park/Russell Street/St Andrews Street the Music school decided in
2002 to put on a street concert. After obtaining all the relevant permissions from
various departments, the Music School from among its own students formed an
orchestra, and invited others to join in. Among those that came to play and enjoy
a day of music were the South African Defence Force Band, and various others
from the community and elsewhere. The street music concert stated at 10am,
and soon turned into a street party ending at 4pm. Following the success of the
street concert another was organised for 2003.
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The Durban Music School, Dikonia Street (formerly St Andrews Street)
(Photo: Durban Music School)
The Durban Music School: A Short History
The new Durban Music School opened in January 2001, thanks to the action of
Werner Dannewitz and other music teachers, together with Operation
Jumpstart (KZN Lotto) who purchased and funded the renovations of the
historic building at 21 St Andrews Street. Built in 1964, it was the former
residence of the Governor of Natal in 1876.
In 1997 after the withdrawl of funds for music education in KwaZulu-Natal
(KZN), the existing Durban Music and Ballet School was closed, the entire staff
retrenched and music education was almost lost to the Province.
The present principal, Werner Dannewitz, a renowned clarinettist, teacher and
conductor of the KwaZulu-natal Youth Wind Band, together with this team of
teachers were desperately tying to keep youth music alive in KZN.
Many months and problems later, their dream took shape. In 2003 Cell-C (the
mobile phone company) made a commitment to sponsor the Durban Music
School’s running costs for two years or until the school becomes self-funding.
The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of KwaZulu-Natal have
welcomed the creation of the Music School to develop and harness talented
young musicians in the city.
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The Mission of the Durban Music School is:
To provide the highest level of professional music training to all students and
to foster a spirit of excellence in performance in all activities promoted and
sponsored by the school.
To this end our project is to provide bursaries to deserving students without
discrimination
The objectives are:
To ensure that students have the opportunity to study an instrument for the
Senior Certificate
To assist those who wish to enter the music profession at tertiary institutions
To provide outreach programmes, e.g. concerts, demonstrations, workshops,
etc
To introduce all genres of music to as many people as possible
To provide weekend training free of charge for disadvantaged students
To establish a training programme for our future musicians in collaboration
with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra
To ensure the continued existence of established music groups in KZN such
as the KZN Youth Orchestra, Soyakula Music Centre and the KZN Youth
Wind band.
There are currently 18 music teachers providing lessons to 230 students.
Durban Music School Street Festival
(photo: Durban Music School)
The Music School’s idea is to generate a much wider appeal for the concert in
the street, but required assistance and support to use the public space. In short,
they required the municipality’s permission, but also support and facilities from
various municipal departments to ensure that such a street music festival is a
success. They approached the iTrump office for assistance. The iTrump took the
opportunity to give it the much needed assistance, and develop a more coherent
approach to the festival. As the iTrump officials were already familiar with the
many line function departments that would be needed to contribute their
particular levels of expertise, it was the left to them to facilitate the process by
being the key co-ordinators between municipal departments such as the Metro
police, the Roads Department, Durban Solid Waste and Parks and Recreation.
They also brought into the process the South African Police Services. In addition
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the councillors of the area, first Mr T. Prince and later Mr Vusi Khoza lent
valuable political support to the street festival and asked for it to be included in
the Celebrate Durban festival in 2004. The Mayor also supported the School by
expressing his appreciation in 2005.
In this way, by providing the backbone, or infrastructural and communications
support for interdepartmental co-operation, the ABM laid the basis for a very
successful annual St Andrews Street Festival. Of course, while the iTrump ABM
was able to mobilise the municipal resources, it left the Music School to organise
the participants and find sponsors for the festival. Securing an anchor
sponsorship from C-Cell, the mobile telephone company, proved immensely
valuable. With this sponsorship, a public/private/community partnership was born
that has seen the festival grow. This year will be its sixth year, and interest in the
festival has grown, and now reaches beyond the immediate surroundings to
include an outreach programme in Umlazi, the Provincial Government’s
Department of Arts and Culture, the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, music
students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Youth Wind Band, the South
African Defence Force Bands, and the Chamber of Commerce.
The success of the St Andrew Street Music Festival also prompted associations
with Awesome Africa Music Festival, and relocation of the Festival to larger
premises such as Albert Park, or elsewhere in the city. However, this suggestion
was resisted by the Music School as it would undermine the primary purpose to
provide a free community festival and contribute to the social upliftment and
vibrancy of the area. Indeed, the iTrump ABM began to think of the street festival
as the anchor to one of the main cultural nodes in the city. As the current director
of the School points out, it lines up quite conveniently between the City Hall and
Playhouse as a central cultural node and the University as another cultural node,
and then reaches out in a network to other parts of the greater metropolitan area.
Specifically the ABM sees this street festival and the Music School as part of a
cultural node that is part of the re-development of the Victoria Embankment
around Wilson’s Wharf and Albert Park.
As part of the effort to extend the street festival into a series of musical concerts
and other performances (e.g. choir music, kwaito, poetry, overseas performers)
taking place in the street all year round, including lunch time concerts, an
ambitious project has been launched to build a stage facility in front of the school.
Plans have been drawn up and are under advanced consideration by the City’s
planning and architectural services. A proposal and feasibility study was
undertaken by the iTrump ABM, and together with the Music School has been
submitted for consideration. Both officials in iTrump and the Music School are
hopeful that the project will be successful, especially since plans for this year’s
street music festival are well underway, and takes place in little more than a
month’s time.
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