Public policy pertaining to arts and culture in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Abstract

This study aims to explore the relationship between the Transitional Local Council of Pietermaritzburg, and various arts and culture bodies in the Pietermaritzburg area. It has seemed that there is a power differential in this relationship, with a very high concentration of power in the hands of the TLC, while very little of it resides with the arts and culture organizations. The findings of this study have shown that the relationship is, in all cases, built on funding. However, secondly, the problem with this is that the TLC has no real policy on the allocation of funding to arts and culture. There is some informal policy, but nothing concrete. Thirdly, the study shows that the TLC does in fact have a power base from which to work - the finances it controls. And, finally, the study has shown that the transition to democracy in 1994 has not substantively changed the situation in which arts and culture organizations find themselves.