Innovative ways needed for raising money for creative arts industry – Oppong Nkrumah
The Minister Designate for Information and Member of Parliament for the Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said that Ghana’s creative arts industry needs financial support.
Speaking on Citi TV’s lifestyle variety show, Upside Down on Sunday, the former Minister of Information told Frema Adunyame and Nana Tuffuor that for the industry to maximise potentials, there needs to be deliberate effort to raise funds for its activities.
“I think we can do with a lot more support and injection but if you look at the limited resource base of the country when they chop it up creative arts get very little,” he said.
“I think that if we find innovative ways of raising money not just national revenue but raising money and setting up funds for people with talents and ideas to tap into those funds and fuel the ideas and be able to pay back because of the global markets that exist, it will create a lot more jobs; it will give room for people to be a lot expressive about their talent and we will be able to move the Ghanaian Afrocentric conversation unto global levels,” Kojo said.
In June 2020, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah convened a meeting between the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and some musicians to discuss some pertinent issues affecting the industry.
Kojo held a zoom meeting with the Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng Gyasi, and some musicians including Stonebwoy, EL, Trigmatic, Efya, Creative Arts Council President Mark Okraku Mante, and Acting MUISGA President Bessa Simons.
The conversation was about the use of digital channels to enhance the revenue streams of creative artists in the era of COVID-19 and to rally support for the Creative Arts Bill.
This came after an Instagram Live interaction with Stonebwoy where he noted that the reason the younger generation of musicians hardly pays attention to industry issues is that it has not been made to be attractive.
One of the major challenges of the creative industry is the unavailability of funds. The Creative Arts Law which received parliamentary assent recently, promises to provide a Creative Arts Agency and a fund for the sector.
