President John Dramani Mahama has promised to train over one thousand creative arts practitioners this year.
The training, with support from the Japan International Corporation
Agency, would see many creative artistes, particularly the small scale
ones receiving training and support to expand their business to create
employment for others.
Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and
Creative Arts, made this known during a get-together for creative arts
practitioners in the Ashanti Region.
The event afforded practitioners and policy makers the platform to
interact and take stock of their programme and activities for 2015 and
to strategize for the New Year.
President Mahama said the creative arts industry would also feature
prominently in his agenda for the year, because of the enormous jobs and
income it had created and generated for the youth.
He said government has released another GhȻ1 million specifically to
the creative arts industry and urged them to come up with sustainable
projects and programmes that could be funded from the money.
The President also promised the creative arts practitioners a
secretariat to facilitate more coordination and interaction between the
practitioners and policy makers.
Meanwhile government would create a Creative Arts Council as
stipulated by the legal and regulatory framework for the industry, for
which practitioners’ views and comments would be solicited.
Mrs Ofosu-Adjare, said the Ministerial status given to the creative
arts sector by the President through Executive Instrument was a
confirmation of the important role the sector played in the country’s
economic growth and development.
She called for more collaboration between the various groups that
make up the industry such as hairdressers, make-up artistes, tailors,
beauticians, visual artists, musicians, actors and actresses, film
producers and directors.
She implored them to strategize on how best they could complement
each other’s work for the mutual benefit of the tourism industry.
Mrs Ofosu Adjare particularly appealed to the film industry to unite
more and use their films to portray the rich and diverse culture and
tourist sites of Ghana.
In respect of the film bill, the Minister said the President has
given his approval and it is currently in Parliament awaiting approval
into an act.
Source: GNA
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