SA Cultural Observatory Conference announces speakers

The conference will be a hybrid event with opportunities offered for both in-person and virtual attendees. It will be held under the theme Creative Economy Reset: Structuring the Creative and Cultural Industries for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future. 

The event has attracted leading minds and experts working in and across the cultural and creative economy on the African continent, in Europe, Australia and the Americas. 

Prof Homi K. Bhabha, the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities and world-renowned critical theorist and social scientist will headline the speaker line-up. He will deliver a key-note speech on the first day of the conference. An author of numerous works exploring colonial and postcolonial theory, cultural change and power, and cosmopolitanism, among other themes, Bhabha is one of the most important figures in contemporary postcolonial studies. He will speak on the topic of Culture wars: Trends driving the state of global culture and the need to rethink citizenship and affiliation.

Founding partner of New York-based Upstart Co-Lab Laura Callanan will lead the event on the second day, where she will speak to new models of investment in the creative economy and specifically on “how investment in the creative economy can achieve deep people-focused impact.”

Callanan will be joined by international and local luminaries on the subject of cultural and creative economy and cultural practitioners. These include top industry author and the University of South Australia’s professor of creative economy, Justin O’Connor, and UNESCO chair of Global Creative Economy, Prof Andy Pratt who will tackle Transformations of the Creative Economy.

Also joining are Minister for Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa, University of Manchester professor for arts and cultural management Leandro Valiati, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s creative economy programme chief, Marisa Henderson, South African artist Billy Monama, British Council sub-Saharan Africa manager for programme and partnerships manager Farai Ncube and professor of Queensland University of Technology communication and media studies Stuart Cunningham, among others.  

The full conference programme can be downloaded or viewed here.