Story; Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria || Editor in Chief || Sanatu Zambang Studios
The creative arts industries refer to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information.
The creative arts industry includes advertising, architecture, arts, crafts, design, fashion, film, music, performing arts, publishing, toys and games, TV, radio and video games.
The creative arts industry can contribute immensely to the development of a country. This sector can be used to reduce the employment rate in the region. It can also be used to educate and start a campaign on serious issues that threaten the survival of the people.
The creative art industry is where you tell your story better. It tells foreigners the culture of your people, its history and beliefs. It is the medium that stores the memory of the past, present, and future of the people.
But it is the least supported sector in the region and belonging to it comes with some kind of stereotype. Mostly, people identify persons in the creative art industry as school dropouts, weed smokers and all kinds of negative connotations.
Females are even tagged as sex works. I remember one musician was denied a girl he wanted to marry by her parents because he is a musician.
People in authority have not come to terms that are not all that can be in the teaching field, health, and all that white-collar jobs.
Maybe is time they turn their attention to the art sector if they really want to fight unemployment in the region. The creative arts industry players are not asking for money in their pockets. But what they need is infrastructure, investors, and regulations that can help propel them to excel in their field. What they seek is for the authority to see it as an equally important sector of the economy that contributes to the economic growth of the town.
What these people need is a little bit of support from people and corporate institutions. Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood are progressing because of the support they are getting from the government, individual and also corporate institutions.
But before we get these supports from authority and other investors, we need to organised ourselves first. We need to have a structure or body that unite us as one. A body that sees the development of the sector. They also have a goal for the industry. Right now, if an investor comes, what does the industry need most.
Who is going to champion the sector?
Everyone is at their little corner doing their own stuff and seeing another as their competitor. We need a united front and a body that can serve the sector and help grow it.
Arnold Mashud of Hyperlinks tried to unite these groups together but was not successful. Since then, no one has tried to come and bring all these groups together.
And know what kind of projects that players can undertake to develop the art sector. When I talk of support, I do not mean to an individual but to the sector. Something that can benefit each and everyone in the industry.
Most people in the industry are always calling for support but where will the support go when investors come and the industry does not have an organized group and what it wants to achieve in a couple of years.
