Contextscost, the greater the chances of success. however, if greater investments are involved,
for instance in technology and infrastructures, it will be more difficult to attract the
necessary financial and logistic means – even if investments are modest from a Western
standpoint. The following arguments are my response to this challenge.
First, it is clear from a cultural perspective that global trade relations have to be
fairer to enable poor countries to develop themselves on a sound economic basis. This
means a radical reshuffling of the basic principles and practices of WTo. This makes
it even more necessary for artists, cultural entrepreneurs and their movements in the
global south to ally themselves with other organizations (such as environmentally
focussed non- governmental organizations) that try to radically change the WTo. it
is clear that when countries develop themselves economically, more resources will
become available for investment in cultural endeavours.
second, much can be learnt from a country like nigeria where every year thousands
of films are produced and distributed. new technologies, combined with effective forms
of production and distribution, may radically change conditions for reaching audiences
and the public.
a third, partial answer to the challenges regarding poorer countries can be found
in the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
(unesCo 2005). in article 18 the contracting parties of this convention agree to
establish a Fund for Cultural diversity with the purpose of supporting countries in the
global south to build capacity for the development of infrastructures and technologies
for cultural production and distribution. even more important is article 16, in which
developed countries promise to facilitate ‘cultural exchanges with developing countries
by granting, through the appropriate institutional and legal frameworks, preferential
treatment to artists and other cultural professionals and practitioners, as well as
cultural goods and services from developing countries.’ When countries take this
article seriously, cultural enterprises from the global south will have a much better
chance of enlarging their markets and, consequently, their sources of income (obuljen
and smiers 2006).
How to position yourself in newly constructed cultural markets?in conclusion, one may note that most artists will find huge challenges in their artistic
career. This is unavoidable. how should they position themselves in these newly
constructed markets? old certainties will probably no longer exist. There will be new
chances (certainly with the advent of digitization), but how to explore them? What
has been proposed here demands much more research about how to construct cultural
markets under new conditions, that will be profitable for many artists in a financial
and a creative sense. This should not only be researched by full- time academics.
artists themselves should explore their experiences and the opportunities they see,
their failures and successes. Their research is most valuable for the development of
the artistic profession in the twenty- first century and for the advance of real cultural
diversity that we as a society desperately need.