The 11th NUST Cultural Festival opened on Wednesday at the university’s Upper Campus, but the vibrant displays of traditional attire and music served as a backdrop to a significant economic declaration. Speeches delivered at the event framed the celebration not merely as a display of heritage, but as a strategic lever for national economic development, with the government setting an ambitious target to grow the Cultural and Creative Industries to account for 2.8% of Namibia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030.
Delivering the keynote address, Ms M’Kariko Amagulu, Director of Arts in the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts, and Culture, positioned the creative sector as a central pillar of Namibia’s development agenda. Citing the country’s Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), Ms Amagulu revealed that the government views the Arts not solely through the lens of cultural expression but as a viable sector for economic diversification and job creation.
“Under NDP6, the Cultural and Creative Industries form part of the Human Development and Community Resilience pillar,” Ms Amagulu stated. She detailed specific economic targets that underscore this shift in policy, noting that the Plan aims to increase the sector’s contribution to total employment from a mere 0.2% in 2024 to 2% by 2030. Furthermore, she highlighted the target to grow the contribution of the Creative Industries to GDP to 2.8% over the same period.
This represents a significant national ambition, requiring a move from viewing creative talent as a pastime to recognizing it as a foundation for enterprise. Ms Amagulu emphasized that achieving these NDP6 targets requires deliberate investment and policy implementation. “These ambitions require us to create real pathways through which creative talent can become creative enterprise,” she said. She outlined the framework for this transition, which necessitates investment in creative infrastructure, skills and capacity development, sustainable funding, intellectual property protection, and greater market access. The sector’s scope, she noted, is broad, encompassing film, animation, design, music, gaming, content creation, and the performing and visual arts.
The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) has emerged as a key institutional partner in this national economic strategy, with its leadership detailing concrete steps to bridge the gap between cultural output and economic opportunity. NUST Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frednard Gideon, in his welcoming remarks, highlighted the university’s proactive alignment with the national agenda, citing the establishment of the Department of Digital Arts and Animation in September 2025 as a direct response to the need for skilled professionals in the creative economy.
“The establishment of the Department of Digital Arts and Animation in September 2025 demonstrates that creativity and technology do not have to exist in separate worlds,” Prof Gideon stated. He argued that the most exciting opportunities for young Namibians are emerging precisely at the intersection of creativity, technology, and innovation.
The university’s commitment is institutionalized in its Integrated Strategic Business Plan 2026-2030, which includes the planned establishment of a School of Creative Industries and Innovation. Prof Gideon framed these developments as more than just new academic structures; he described them as opportunities for young Namibians to create, to tell their stories in innovative ways, and to build careers and businesses. This institutional shift recognizes that culture is not merely to be preserved, but is allowed to evolve, innovate, and create economic value, as articulated by the Vice-Chancellor.
The economic angle of the festival was also underscored by the personal connection of the keynote speaker to the university. Ms Amagulu was welcomed as a “proud NUST alumna,” with Prof Gideon stating, “Madam Director, welcome home!” This homecoming underscored the tangible pipeline from a NUST education to a leadership role in the nation’s cultural policy, providing a real-world validation of the university’s strategic direction.
The festival theme, “I Am Because We Are: United Global Cultures, One Community,” was invoked by both speakers to frame economic collaboration within a uniquely Namibian and African philosophy. Prof Gideon explicitly linked the theme to the philosophy of Ubuntu, stating that it speaks directly to the understanding that “our humanity is deeply connected to the humanity of others.” He argued that this principle is applicable to the university’s economic ambitions, stressing that “no institution, no community and no nation succeeds through individual effort alone.”
The convergence of cultural celebration and economic strategy at the NUST event signals a pivotal moment for Namibia’s creative sector. The speeches indicate a government and institutional consensus that the creative industries are a legitimate component of the national economy, capable of meeting the employment and GDP growth targets set by the NDP6. With NUST positioning itself as a hub for developing the requisite talent, the festival served not only as a celebration of heritage but as a launchpad for Namibia’s ambitious vision of a 2.8% contribution from the creative sector to its national economy by 2030.