TIMING IS EVERYTHING
When talent is not enough, what exactly are we rewarding?
By Thami akaMbongo Manzana
"There is a time and place for everything."
It is a phrase we have heard throughout our lives. In the Cultural and Creative Industries, it has become one of the most repeated explanations for why some people make it while others, equally talented, never do.
But what if timing is not the whole story?
Or perhaps the more uncomfortable question is: whose timing are we talking about?
Many artists have received the phone call that changed their lives because they happened to be in the right room at the right time. Others were introduced to the right producer, director, curator or executive by someone who opened a door that remained closed for thousands of equally deserving practitioners.
Some went to universities and arts institutions that gave them the networks, confidence and opportunities to succeed. Others never had that privilege, yet possess extraordinary talent.
Some align themselves with influential circles. Call them networks. Call them factions. Call them cabals. Whatever name we choose, there are groups that seem to know where opportunities are before everyone else does.
Some artists are deliberately given platforms where failure is almost guaranteed, only so that someone can later say, "We tried." Was it really an opportunity, or was it a setup?
Others suddenly become relevant because they are trending. Their names become useful. Their stories become marketable. Their faces sell tickets. Their voices attract funding. But when the hype disappears, so does the support.
Some compromise their principles to survive. Some sacrifice their dignity. Some sell their hearts and souls to fit into systems that reward compliance more than creativity.
Some even prostitute themselves - professionally, emotionally or otherwise, not because they lack values, but because desperation has a way of making impossible choices seem necessary.
Yet, after doing all of this...
There is still no guarantee.
No guarantee of employment.
No guarantee of funding.
No guarantee of sustainability.
No guarantee of recognition.
No guarantee of legacy.
Which raises difficult questions that the Cultural and Creative Industries in South Africa continue to avoid.
Timing Is Everything
Perhaps the biggest lie we tell ourselves is that talent alone is enough.
Talent matters.
Hard work matters.
Education matters.
Networking matters.
But none of these guarantees success.
There are artists with international awards who struggle to pay rent.
There are graduates who cannot find work.
There are self-taught practitioners creating world-class productions.
There are people with little artistic ability occupying influential positions because they understand power better than art.
So what exactly is the formula?
Maybe there isn't one.
Maybe timing is not something we control.
Maybe preparation meets opportunity in ways we cannot predict.
Or maybe the industry itself needs to stop romanticising luck and start creating systems where success depends less on who you know and more on what you contribute.
Because if timing is everything, then we must also ask:
Who controls the clock?
Who decides when someone is ready?
Who determines whose moment has arrived?
Who keeps resetting the clock for others while allowing the same few to remain permanently on time?
The Cultural and Creative Industries should not be a lottery where careers depend on chance, proximity to power or political convenience.
It should be an ecosystem where talent, innovation, discipline and integrity have a genuine opportunity to flourish.
Until then, many practitioners will continue asking themselves whether they simply missed their moment or whether their moment was never meant to arrive under the current system.
Perhaps timing is everything.
Or perhaps justice is.
And until the industry is willing to answer that question honestly, many artists will continue waiting for a clock they do not control.
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