Systems thinking invites us to move beyond the old assumption that complexity belongs only to science or that scientific methods alone can solve it. Increasingly, we see that creativity, when brought into dialogue with other disciplines, can illuminate complexity in ways that rigid frameworks cannot. Such an approach offers a systems perspective, one that cultivates innovation, resilience and the capacity for meaningful change.
I was reminded of this while reflecting on the recent proliferation of jazz festivals and events in the Western Cape. As a jazz enthusiast, I have spent much of the past two decades in spaces that keep South African jazz alive spaces that celebrate our artistic and cultural inheritance while sharing it with the world.
Over that time, I have also witnessed how the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the arts sector: careers stalled, livelihoods evaporated and projects that artists and their collaborators had risked everything to realise were suddenly thrown into uncertainty.
