Key Messages
"Celebrating South African craft, our heritage"
September marks the annual Heritage Month in South Africa. During this month the country recognises and celebrates the cultural heritage of our nation. The opportunity should be taken to foster cultural pride and instil a shared identity among all South Africans, towards a cohesive society.
Our rich cultural heritage has a profound power to develop national unity, and strengthen nation-building, reconciliation, and patriotism
- Heritage Month in South Africa, which recognises aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and intangible: creative expression such as music and performances, our cultural inheritance and crafts, language, the food we eat, as well as popular memory.
- Events during the month are aimed at using our country’s diverse and rich cultural heritage to strengthen the national identity.
- This year’s celebrations will focus on promoting the craft industry. South Africa produces a remarkable range of crafts. The various types of crafts reflect South Africa’s diverse societies as well as crafters age ground, lifestyle, cultural group, and different backgrounds.
Government is committed to growing and developing the craft sector
- Government has a dedicated department to advocate the potential of the crafts industry in sustainable economic development.
- Through its “Investing in Culture” programme, the department has funded 394 projects which have produced 10 938 job opportunities since 2005, with women, youth and differentially people with disabilities constituting 43%, 37% and 4% of the total number and with 70% of the projects in rural areas.
- South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Cultural Diversity Expressions of 2005 to create conditions for cultures to flourish and to interact freely in a mutually beneficial manner.
- 1,2 million people earn their living through crafts and related trade sectors making them a large economic sector, comprising design, the performing arts, dance, film, television, multimedia, cultural heritage, cultural tourism, the visual arts, the crafts, music and publishing.
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