Brokering marriage between business, the arts

According to Elaine Rumboll, director of executive education at the GSB and an artist in her own right, this kind of programme is long overdue.

“People in both business and the arts are fond of believing that they are poles apart and that they don't really need each other to survive. In fact the opposite is true,” she says.

“From a business perspective, a country without deep sustainable creativity and innovation is a country of empty and shallow capacity. Business needs the arts to keep it supplied with new ideas. And the arts need business to ensure that what they do is properly recognised.

“All too often one hears of artists doings things pro bono because they are uncomfortable or intimidated by pricing and negotiating a healthy return on their efforts. Inevitably many stop creating and making art. At the business school we have a national commitment to ensuring that the pool of local creative talent remains sustainable and one of the ways in which to do this is to ensure that artists know how to negotiate around money.”

No charge

To cement its commitment to making the programme work, the GSB has developed the course at no charge. In addition, all lecturers will donate their time free of charge, helping to ensure that artists get access to the best learning at the lowest possible cost. Delegates on the course will be exposed to some of the best business minds teaching at the GSB, including top international visiting lecturers who will be in Cape Town in August to teach on the School's Executive Leadership Programme.

The course will teach artists everything they need to know about basic business from how to manage their finances to how to market themselves more effectively and critically – to negotiate decisively when pitching a product.

Rumboll said that the thirteen-week process will be a profoundly practical investment for artists who will emerge better equipped to continue working creatively but without being vulnerable to exploitation. To help ensure that learning is maximised, each delegate will also be given a mentor in the form of a successful artist in the particular discipline they come from.

Successful applicants will be charged a minimal R2500 to cover the costs of materials and other overheads. Any profits will be donated the Observatory Community Centre, which is where the course will also run.