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Friday Lessons with Sir Mwanyisa
GREETINGS learners, parents and guardians!
Welcome to your Visual and Performing Arts weekly lessons brought to you by your favourite newspaper, The Manica Post.
I expect you to have a exercise book and a pen to write the work given as exercises.
We have covered music and arts technology in the past two weeks.
Now that you are able to use technology in producing various artworks, including other art technologies, it is important that you know how to market your artworks.
Today our topic is “Business ethics”.
You are expected to be able:
(i) To explain the terms business and ethics.
(ii) To state at least five business ethics.
(iii) To explain the importance of business ethics in visual and performing arts.
A business can be seen as a commercial activity or trade.
Ethics are guidelines that are concerned with what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in business.
Each organisation has a set of moral codes that ought to be observed by members of the organisation.
Each artist should be aware of the business ethics that protects the customers and the business.
Business ethics concern individuals and organisations’ moral guidelines about right or wrong practices on commercial activities.
Let us explore some of the business ethics that should be observed by artists in marketing their artefacts and skills.
Loyalty
The artists are expected to be loyal to the customers.
If the artist demonstrates loyalty to the customers, the probability of customers turning a blind eye on the mistakes of the artist is greater.
Some artists are loyal to their customers to the extent of ignoring their own personal interests.
Such behaviour is important in building trust.
Once trust is built, more customers are created and the business grows.
Corporate responsibility
The responsibility towards the community in which the artist works in is not only a moral obligation, it is important.
If artists are working for an organisation it also implies that the organisation itself has a responsibility to the community.
This explains why some artists produce artworks based on themes that can promote unity, cooperation and preservation of human rights.
Copyright materials
A copyright is a form of legal protection which protects the original artworks from being used by others without lawful approval.
The Copyright Act protects both the interests of the artists and the artwork.
Use of copyrighted work is a criminal offence that can lead to imprisonment if found guilty.
Use of other artists’ work and publishing them as if they were your own is an unethical practice in arts.
Original artworks are a form of intellectual property that is protected by law.
Copyright lasts for the lifetime of the creator and an additional 70 years after the death of the artist.
From there on, the work may be used without the need for permission.
Unhu/ ubuntu/vumunhu
Munhu, munhu ngeunhu, as such artists are expected to demonstrate unhu in their business interactions.
The artist lives in a community where peace, love and harmony should be promoted.
Artists should live in harmony and encourage acceptable moral standards in the work they produce as well as in interacting with the audience.
Using their influence to engage in immoral activities is against business ethics.
Good morals such as use of language, dress and including personal life choices are important.
Artistes such as actors and musicians have a great impact on the behaviour of others.
Respect for human dignity and privacy is important in arts.
The purpose of business ethics is therefore to create a culture of handling business in a manner that protects all the parties, including the customers, the business and the artist.
In our next lesson, we focus on soft skills in business.
Task
We have covered some of the business ethics in arts, I now expect you to research on the following: Importance of creating original works.
Registering artworks with relevant organisations.
Legal responsibility in arts.
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