On 28 September, LeadUP Conversation held another thought-provoking conversation about The Business of Innovation, Collaboration and Creativity. The virtual conversation was themed ‘Telling Africa’s stories’ and was moderated, yet again, by the seasoned UP and PDBY alumni, broadcaster Sebenzile Nkambule. The 23rd conversation panel consisted of the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Tawana Kupe, Mr James Ngcobo, Ms Noxolo Dalmini, Prof. David Medalie and Ms Allison Triegaardt. The moderator opened the conversation by explaining the framework of the conversation. In her opening, she outlined the conversation by discussing current and future trends in telling African Stories, the effects of streaming platforms, AI(Artificial intelligence), and the creative industry business. The full version of the conversation is uploaded on UP’s YouTube channel. Prof. Kupe was granted the honour of giving the opening remarks on the discussion for the day. Prof. Kupe gave a synopsis of the Humanities Department’s history and the contributions that have been made to society at large. This included the contributions made by UP academics from the Humanities Department for the 103 years of its existence. The moderator posed the following question to James Ngcobo ‘Speak to us about the role and significance of storytelling in African Societies, the sort of impact they have in particular on preserving culture.’ Mr Ngcobo’s response started with a synopsis of what he has been doing in the theatre space, explaining his roles and perspectives. “We can’t win when we curate in a way that we are left behind by the people who are going to be consuming the work. We need to be in such synchroneity with our audiences. When we gallop ahead of our audiences, we are then a theatre that is not sentimental about making work. We are a theatre that is saying “what is in the contemporary tapestry that we think we can pull and make that work and pull our work and resources that we have”. Ms Allison Triegaardt was then thrown into the conversation from the commercial side. ‘Let us speak specifically about the commercial aspect […] storytelling in Africa. What have been perhaps the key features of the evolution of the business of storytelling in Africa? What has made it uniquely African?’ asked Nkambule.Triegaardt firstly acknowledged the complexity of the question and the deep meaning attached to it, she lamented that the time allocated was not enough to address all the aspects of the question. “[…] one key feature that all African broadcasters and streamers agree on is business creativity, viewers want to see themselves, their stories, their culture, their language reflected on screen […]. The nuanced representation of ourselves is also what makes our storytelling uniquely African. It is really heartening because at Netflix, we’ve seen audience feedback and data that proves there is an incredible appetite for African stories. Not only locally, but internationally too. That is why we are working with African storytellers proactively. To support them as they explore wide spectrum themes, genres and formats” said Triegaardt. Ms Triegaardt threw the proverbial spanner in the works when she mentioned another dynamic to the conversation. “Of course audience appetites evolve, a knock-on effect is created. From creation of local stars to deeper reflective thinking from the part of creatives”. Professor Medalie gave input as an academic. In his opening remarks, he gave a brief history on Creative Writing as a discipline, including the qualification level that UP offers in the discipline of late. After the moderator enquired about the development of the discipline of Creative Writing in the university heresponded, “When I was a student, which is a very long time ago. […] Creative writing was certainly not something I thought I could study at university […]. We had no tradition of having that as an academic subject. […] Our programme here at university of Pretoria is entirely a postgraduate programme.” ‘Who are Africa’s storytellers right now? We are! […] All the artists that have captured our stories and continue to capture our stories. We are the storytellers.’ These were the sentiments echoed by Noxolo Dlamini to a question that Sebenzile posed to her about
her opinion on who African storytellers are. Telling African stories is best done by Africans themselves. In addition to that, there needs to be a platform that enables it, having a platform like Netflix is a good start. Artists also need to survive. Therefore, having a platform that is willing to exhibit their work and telling African stories is not sustainable if there are no financial gains to the talent. The intersectionality of different disciplines to make storytelling come to life is the focal point of this conversation. This as well as Creative Writing as an academic qualification, the talent, the platform, and also the monetary gains by the artists. With this in place, African storytelling will be well positioned to tell authentic African stories as they are.
(he/him),
From Atteridgeville, holds BEd from UP. My news interest are politics, hard news, human interest stories and investigative journalism. My hobbies are photography, philosophy, languages, bird watching, debating, gardening and watching sports.