ARTS TALENT RETENTION AT RURAL AREAS

INTRODUCTION

This paper serves to highlight aims and objectives of SEFAKO MOHLOMI TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND ARTISTS MANAGEMENT AGENCY as an explained agency regarding talent development and retention at rural areas. The focus of this paper is on Talent in a broader view but because we are arts and culture inspired agency, much of the content herein is aligned more with arts, creative and cultural industries.

We aim to integrate most if not all rural talents in cross sectoral partnerships, co-operations and collaborations to work together for a common goal which will create an independent rural economy that will flourish globally. This is relatively a new agency formed from matured experiences; it is more like a growth or arm extension of existing two arts and culture institutions. The agency is birthed by T2S GNB Studios and North West Cultural Policy Reading Group to focus mainly on Talent Development and Management as T2S GNB Studios serves as a Multimedia Recording Studio and North West Cultural Policy Reading Group serves in cultural policy matters shaping development policies and partnerships, and in overseeing their implementation.

We hope this paper will not only highlight our aims and objectives in regard to challenges facing talent development and retention at rural areas but will also aid other rural development stakeholders and researches to have a broader view of our challenges and workable solutions. It would be great for us to be engaged in any efforts of rural development from any development stage as we are rural citizens, our businesses operates from rural areas. Our projects, programmes and activities are all happening at rural areas hence we believe we are a better choice when undertaking any work at rural areas.

This paper can be used in any rural development work and can be cited and referenced in the following manner:
SEFAKO MOHLOMI ARTISTS MANAGEMENT AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY : JUNE 2018 PAPER 1 - HOW TO DEAL WITH CHALLENGES FACING TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND RETENTION AT RURAL AREAS - WORKABLE SOLUTIONS.



At SMTADAAMA we provide a platform for private-public civil society partnership; we have a setup that provides innovative participation. There is a massive need to position and engage our rural organisations/enterprises with senior development leaders, decision makers and advisors committed to achieving the sustainable development goals in Africa and the world. We aim to guide and capacitate talents at rural areas to become prospective entrepreneurs and to access opportunities that will enable them to manage sustainable enterprises from regional level through the entire system of global trade.

We are committed to talent development of rural youth, fair trade, market access for emerging rural talents and support strategies to unlock the potential of talented young people at rural areas. We've committed ourselves to realizing the true potential of our talented individuals and help to nurture them to fully develop into what they are meant to be. Globalization's aim is to bring the world closer like a global village; SMTADAAMA is a key driver to align rural talents to global vision of accruing economic benefits from the vibrant global creative and cultural industries. We fully support transformation of raw talent from informal/traditional level to career orientated level/platform through outsourcing relevant skills development and training programmes that capacitate our talents to reach full socio-economic maturity.

Our precognition is that rural talents need to be aligned to the global context for cultural, social and economic rights. We are committed to preservation, conservation and promotion of South African culture, language and diversity through our variety of talents and in so doing we strive to foster market access, wealth creation and activate lobbying of the public and private sectors in the interests of independent rural arts, creative and cultural industry. We have a duty to eliminate development theories that have negatively plagued rural areas for many many centuries by practically bringing forth the facts about these areas of human existence to the world.

It's time we remind our rural folks that its talents of their forefathers that has built cities and towns, whom has laboured in mines and infrastructure development of global economies. It's about time we monument our own heroes, exploited rural talents that have contributed to the modern world through hard labour. We have an opportunity to push back all frontiers of poverty, our freedom and democracy allow us to reverse the injustices of the past by building a solid non-racial, non-sexist future for ourselves protected and guided by universal declaration of human rights.

SMTADAAMA is on a mission to be the platform for a radical talent management and development through various cultural partnerships with other rural based arts, culture and development organisations. T2S GNB Studios is a multimedia recording studio tasked with the technical support to the agency. The Studio renders recording and publishing services to rural artists, among services provided is music production in form of audio recordings and beat making, drama and film production, poetry and video production. The studio is a one stop service centre for SMTADAAMA. On the other side there is SK Media & Entertainment Productions which is an arm of entertainment for SMTADAAMA and T2S GNB Studios. SK Media & Entertainment Production specializes with events hosting and management. They are responsible to see that Recorded and Incubated Artists from T2S GNB Studios and SMTADAAMA get performance gigs to advance their talents and to generate some economic spin.

We encourage personal development of aspiring and emerging rural talents and offer guidance in all aspects of their development. We are currently through T2S GNB Studios partnered with Reaipela Cultural Group from Logageng Village and Tshedimosetso Cultural Group from Disaneng Village to affirm our cultural partnerships dimension of development. We have an objective to facilitate interaction, exchange and collaboration between rural talents world-wide. We are developing courage, determination and creativity of ordinary people to defeat poverty and other socio-ills through natural talents. We are on a mission to construct a new meaning of what rural life is and how it can be integrated and be acknowledged globally as part of universal contributors to all other aspects of life and the economy. We encourage our young people to admire and adopt the notion of "self-made" Man/Woman who is encouraged by business and values the essence of entrepreneurship whose success will be achieved at no cost to the environment and without exploitation of labour of ordinary people to achieve their objectives.

TECH 4 GOOD PLAN
We are working very hard through various online platforms to make sure that rural talents does not sink into obscurity but continue to fight for their cultural dignity and identity which has been tampered with by politics and religion over the centuries. We are currently utilising the NetSquared and TechSoup platforms to present some of mobile applications and other technological resources that support sustainable development goals in Africa for our rural areas and discover new game-changing innovations in mobile technology, humanitarian logistics, health, arts, culture and communications.
We are on a mission to increase our global connectivity, integration, interdependence in socio-economic, political, cultural and technological spheres and to eliminate barriers of trade. NetSquared Mahikeng is developing computer network system that will provide e-mail and on-line information at rural areas with emphasis on collection, processing and distribution of information. For us to benefit well from globalisation, we need all stakeholders to play their part.

Below are links to our cultural partners works online:
https://www.meetup.com/NetSquared-Mahikeng/
http://www.ngopulse.org/users/ratlounorthartsandcultureconference
https://www.youtube.com/channel/
https://web.facebook.com/t2sgnbstudios/
http://www.worldculturesconnect.com/profiles/120562/tshedimosetso-cultural-group...
http://www.worldculturesconnect.com/profiles/120551/nwcprg
https://fb.me/TshedimosetsoCulturalGroup
https://soundcloud.com/t2s_gnb_studios
https://www.facebook.com/reaipelaculturalgroup/

We know it's not enough to be just listed on others online platforms but it's a start, a beginning, and we are happy to announce that we are working on our own website which we'll be able to control and manage our content as we desire without any subscription limitations. We are not funded; we work with our own self raised budgets which makes our journey a bit of an uphill battle with a projected happy ending/outcome of self-made cultural entrepreneurs. In so doing, we are considerate of the several barriers that include:

1. Illiteracy which hinders access to electronic and printed information
2. Poverty which does not allow rural talents to have the          production power
3. Lack of resources such as television, radio, computer, etc.          that would enable them to benefit from globalization information
4. Lack of basic infrastructure, such as adequate electricity supply and communication facilities.

These obstacles faced by many rural communities, disable them from accessing latest innovations in development initiatives. SMTADAAMA proposes the setting up of information centres throughout rural areas, where majority of the poor population live.

CULTURAL PARTNERSHIPS CAMPAIGN
We support all aspects of the implementation of effective village arts and culture productions, programs, projects and activities in all regions of our province, country and the world at large. T2S GNB Studios through cultural partnership with North West Cultural Policy Reading Group , have invested resources into research and development by coming up with rural arts and culture policy, strategic plan, collaboration with other producers and stakeholders, engaging consumers in some arts productions and outsourcing community support for catering and security. All these efforts are yielding an increase in community participation in local events and it is slowly but surely building a sustainable future audience who doesn't only watch events but participates, follow and support.

Village arts and culture productions have the potential to contribute to Millennium Development Goals, has the potential to contribute for upliftment of vulnerable families in rural areas. We've made it our mandate to globalize the village through talents found at rural areas and create a culture of self-reliance among our people. For us to create sustainable livelihoods in our regions, it would be necessary to employ some traditional mechanisms and systems which was neglected and rejected by colonization and apartheid systems as inferior to our people while it's what made economies of those regimes. Thatched houses, lodges, chalets, parks, game reserves etc. are some of traditional investments examples that rural talents needs to come together and bring into existence to drive our own economy.

Skills such as Herbalism can be used more effectively in rural health faculties to control disease outbreaks and cure prescriptions. We have a wide range of traditional doctors whom are not really used to their full potential. Our Carpenters have no furnishers; the community suffer from hire purchases from furnisher stores while we have skilled people whom with a bit of guidance and support can use natural resources to produced locally made furnishers.

We have talented crafts Men and Women who are sitting on their talents which sometimes are rare skills who don't have jobs. Those are people whom could be attracting tourists, beautifying our surroundings, contributing to creation of local galleries, establishments of Craft Centers and training institutions. We have an array of unused talents, Farm-workers who can invest their experiences in community food gardens, skillful people whom have worked at Factories and Manufacturing Plants, all these people can be brought together for a common socio-economic freedom goal of an independent rural economy. The problem we are currently facing in achieving this is that many of our people still don't know the value of talent. Many haven't realized how talented are they and how the capitalist and imperial world has exploited their talents as mere workers/laborers.

We however believe we have adequate developmental strategies just in time to decolonize minds of our people and match their aspirations. Another challenge we seek to eliminate is of our prospective entrepreneurs who are not familiar with a business plan. Some have been lucky to receive some sort of funding from government but lack of knowledge and expertise in managing the financial aspects of their businesses resulted in them being exposed to economic shocks. The business plan needs to be uncomplicated as it is quite complicated to alienate those whom don't possess much academic knowledge. We must uncomplicated it but it must still meet the requirements of funding institutions, investors and sponsors.

We need on-going dialogue process as regard to training of our entrepreneurs in business plan development. We must utilise talented organic thinkers excluded from business plan formulation system due to their less academic status. Talent is natural and so we must acknowledge that we have natural business minded people whom can form a bigger part of building up our human resource department together with their academic counterparts. The vision we have here is non-exclusive but very inclusive for all relevant stakeholders that can be prepared to look critically at issues that affects them. Accountable and transparent leadership is our key and we are prepared to take risks towards making this dream a reality.


REFERENCES:

Aid & International Development Forum - africa.aidforum.org - http://www.aidforum.org/

Centre for Rural Development, University of Venda for Science and Technology:
Characterization of indigenous free-ranging poultry production systems under traditional management conditions in the
Vhembe District of the Limpopo Province, South Africa - Harry K Swatson, Jane Tshovhote, Edward Nesamvumi, N.E. Ranwedzi and Cobus Fourie - http://infpd.net/filemanager/upload/research/il1340429316he.pdf

Globalisation and Small-Scale Farming in Africa: What role for Information Centres?
Dr. L. O. Aina Professor Department of Library and Information Studies University of Botswana. http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla73/index.htm

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) - Improving village chicken production: a manual for field workers and trainers. www.aciar.gov.au

The origins of apartheid - Chapter 1 Page 18 - https://www.apartheidmuseum.org/sites/default/.../Teachers%20book%20Chapter1.pdf...