The Chairman of the Ghana Culture Forum, Nana Otuo Owoahene Acheampong, has called on corporate institutions to support the cultural sector.
Nana, who is also the Executive Director of the National Commission on Culture, while complimenting the bank for supporting their recently held Ghana Culture Week, also stressed on the need for other companies to emulate the example of GCB Bank PLC in support of cultural events and projects.
In reference to a quotation from Joshua Maponga, Nana affirmed that indeed “Culture is currency” and it is expedient for Ghana to nurture its cultural capital not only for the economic functions but for the invaluable anthropological functions such as identity and self-belief.
The Ghana Culture Forum, which is Ghana’s foremost cultural civil society organisation and umbrella body for all creative practitioners and activists, marked the 2024 Ghana Culture Week with a series of activities on the theme “Cultivating Cultural Capital: Nurturing Ghana's Legacy for Africa's Renaissance”.
The week started with a Fashion Dialogue and Expo on “Kente: Tradition, Modernity and Identity,” followed by an Interschool Debate where St Thomas Aquinas SHS successfully defended its title for the second year running.
The headline event, the Ghana Culture Day Symposium, featured a keynote speech by Chief Moomen, Poet, Playwright, Creative Entrepreneur and Creator of The Mansa World which premiered at the UNESCO Office in Paris 2023. The Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon Stephen Asamoah Boateng commended the forum for its work in promoting culture in Ghana.
The week-long festival ended with a Film Screening and Dialogue, featuring the award-winning animation film by Jesse Sunkwa-Mills, “Yaa Asantewaa: the battle for the golden stool.”
Although cultural projects and activities may not guarantee immediate financial returns, their long-term anthropological or social benefits are immeasurable – “It is necessary to invest in safeguarding and promoting our cultural heritage for the sake of our tomorrow’s people.”
Nana intimated that the cultural sector has faced challenges in accessing funding and support from corporate bodies because there is little to no available data of the impact of the sector on the economy.
He noted that is why Ghana Culture Forum, stakeholders and partners have called for the consistent collection of comprehensive data of the Ghana’s Culture Sector. He therefore extended a call to GCB Bank PLC and corporate institutions to support the data collection project.
The Ghana Culture Week celebration was supported by Ghana Tourism Authority, National Commission on Culture and UNESCO.