Creative industries need more than individual talent and good policy. They need institutions capable of carrying collective interests, managing resources, governing credibly and turning strategy into delivery.
Unathi’s career has repeatedly moved into that institutional layer. She has held leadership roles across broadcasting, a national film agency, federation structures, consulting, governance and sector bodies. At the National Film and Video Foundation, her Head of Operations portfolio spanned legal, compliance, human resources, research, information technology, quality assurance and facilities. Her work through SASFED involved federation leadership, advocacy, partnerships, stakeholder coordination and sector strategy.
She has also worked through boards, committees, rights organisations, coalitions and public-sector reference structures, giving her a view of institutions from multiple sides: executive, legal, governance, representative and stakeholder-facing.
At system level, this work can involve examining how ministries, public agencies, regulators, industry organisations, rights-management bodies and representative structures fit together: where mandates sit, where responsibilities overlap or fall between institutions, how stakeholders are consulted, and whether there are clear mechanisms for coordination, accountability and implementation.
It can include institutional and regulatory analysis; governance and organisational design; stakeholder and sector mapping; strengthening representative structures; developing consultation and convening mechanisms; clarifying implementation responsibilities; and helping institutions translate broad policy objectives into workable structures, programmes and delivery frameworks. In many cultural and creative-industry environments, the challenge is not simply the absence of policy, but the absence of institutional coherence needed to make policy work in practice.
This practice is concerned with the machinery that makes collective work possible — governance, organisational design, representative structures, sector coordination, institutional strengthening, strategic partnerships and the disciplined translation of mission into systems and delivery.
Areas of focus
Institutional design & strengthening • Governance & accountability • Mandates & implementation responsibilities • Sector coordination • Industry organisations & representative bodies • Stakeholder mapping • Consultation & convening structures • Boards & governance • Coalitions & working groups • Implementation frameworks • Institutional strategy