Keeping music alive! A review of Mmino - The South African-Norwegian cooperation in music

Abstract

This report provides an independent review of the Mmino programme between Norway and South Africa. Mmino was established in 2000 with the aim of strengthening South African and Norwegian musical cultures through establishing links between South African and Norwegian music initiatives and individuals. The programme ended in 2011. The programme was implemented by Concerts Norway and the National Arts Council in South Africa and funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Arts and Culture in South Africa. Introduced at a relatively early moment in the evolution of the arts funding framework in the post 1994 period in South Africa, the reports finds that the Mmino programme has made a significant contribution to the music sector. In the broader context of funding of the arts in South Africa, the Mmino programme rapidly established a profile as a responsive and engaged funder of music projects, particularly at the emergent/developmental end of the music industry. It has also initiated and funded several important co-operation projects between Norway and South Africa. The report provides a series of recommendations to the Norwegian Embassy, to the South African Department of Arts and Culture, to the National Arts Council and to the Concerts Norway. Based on the lessons from Mmino these recommendations seek to provide guidance in developing a successor programme.