Respect the arts: they hold fortune for Ghana’s economy
Have you ever imagined living a world without music, movies, fashion, comedy, and other art forms? That will be no world – because these things are what make up the world.
But have you wondered why in Ghana, the creative arts are treated with disdain and as second fiddle?
What constitute the arts?
The Arts encompass literary works – including poetry, novels and short stories, and epic poetry; performing arts – among them music, dance, and theatre, comedy, spoken word; culinary arts such as baking and wine making; media arts like photography and cinematography, and visual arts – including drawing, painting, ceramics, fashion, and sculpture.
Some art forms combine a visual element with performance or artwork with the written words. From prehistoric cave paintings to modern day film, art serves as a vessel for storytelling and conveying humankind’s relationship with its environment.
Even though music, dance and film making are the prominent art forms, there is no gainsaying the fact that the other recherché arts forms are also indispensable in the society. They are part of us.
However, the Arts do not receive the kind of support and respect they deserve. It has been the bane of stakeholders of the sector for ages.
I have been waging a war for the past eight (8) years I got into mainstream journalism. I have been discouraged, called names and told that my fight would never yield results.
For the past years, my prayer has been that the creative arts gain recognition, respect and value in the Ghanaian society. This I have done through my ‘No Arts, No Vote’ campaign that aimed at charging political parties to feature the arts in their manifestos. I have been very vocal and critical about governments and their policies for the entertainment industry within the period.
Let me not be selfish. I have not been in this alone. A lot of people in the showbiz industry have also done tremendously well by pressing on powers that be to help the sector get better.
Problems of the Arts
The National Theatre which was built by Flt. Lt. J. J Rawlings’ administration has since its establishment been the only auditorium for the creative arts. No government has been able to build another auditorium for entertainment programs. This has led to immense pressure on the few available entertainment venues in the country. Even the cultural centres across the nation are not in good shape.
The Broadcasting Bill which can regulate activities of the media (a major vehicle for the creative arts) is still awaiting parliamentary assent. Similarly, the Creative Arts Bill which could help to make the creative arts section of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture more functional is also resting in parliament for approval into a law.
The teaching and learning of creative arts subjects and courses throughout the educational ladder have not been attractive and effective.
The dominance of foreign on the Ghanaian society is so huge that Ghana is gradually losing a bigger part of its cultural heritage. The essence of globalisation requires that we welcome other cultures but that must not be done at the expense of the core Ghanaian culture. Conversely, Ghanaian culture has less prominence of the international market.
The marginalisation of the arts starts from the home, to the school, to governance, to the media. Activities of these institutions against the arts have been the reason the sector has been stunted.
Home: In a typical Ghanaian home, art is seen as ‘rag.’ People in the showbiz world are perceived as wastrels. Parents would want their kids to be doctors, pilots, bankers and engineers than to become painters, writers, musicians, actors, and the like.
Because of this, some parents foist courses on their kids to pursue in school even if these courses are not of interest to the children.
School: Ghana’s educational system is very biased towards the arts. Most teachers do not regard arts-related subjects so they treat them as ancillary. A lot of public schools lack the requisite teaching and learning materials to provide for schools to make teaching and learning of creative arts subjects smooth.
The basic schools for example, do not have teachers who are well-versed in the arts to teach the Creative Arts and its related subjects. Because of this when it comes to these subjects, they skip them.
Another sad thing is that when a student excels in exams, they are encouraged to pursue the sciences at the higher level than the humanities. Arts courses usually take low grade student; the impression is that it doesn’t take so much to study arts. This is erroneous!
Government: For many years, successive governments have shown apathy towards the arts. Even though former President John Dramani Mahama made a good step to create a ministry that incorporated the arts, it still has not seen the necessary push it requires.
I have strong hope that there are a lot of things in the yet-to-be ratified Creative Arts Bill but I trust that it will not be mere document like the Cultural Policy which was drafted in 2004.
I trudged through the Cultural Policy by the Commission of National Culture done in 2004 and many years on, I wonder what duty bearers did to the very great ideas in the policy document. We have scholars in Ghana to write big English for policy documents but the resolve to pursue and implement them is the problem.
Apparently, after wasting money to draft that policy, those who needed to see to the implementation, went to bed.
For example, on Theatre Infrastructure, the policy document states: “The National Commission on Culture shall collaborate with the District Assemblies and communities to establish community theatres to serve as venues for the promotion of the performing arts. The design of theatres should be based on African indigenous architecture as well as African concepts and traditions of performance.”
Yet, even the Centres for National Culture across the country are in very poor states.
Another one on Music says: “The practice, creation and promotion of all forms of Ghanaian Music shall be encouraged by the State. Production of Musical instruments shall be encouraged, so that all schools and communities can own their own instruments.
The State shall encourage private entrepreneurs to establish production plants and support activities to document, preserve, protect, publish and promote Ghanaian Music.”
Clearly, government’s resolve to elevating the arts, culture and entertainment has been at the low ebb.
The Media
An infinitesimal fraction of the entire media space tackles arts and entertainment in a manner that will help make an impact in the sector.
There are some media networks that think that entertainment is for the less intelligent; that it is not lucrative so they won’t waste their time on it. Most media houses would treat entertainment stories only when a celebrity has done something bad. Nobody hears of other very important entertainment related issues.
Sadly, art and entertainment shows are the ones that get the less sponsorship from corporate Ghana. This is not because the arts are not lucrative or important but because it has been marginalised.
Importance of the Arts
The arts serve as source of livelihood for a lot people in the country in areas including music, dance, film making, publishing, creative writing, pottery, poetry, comedy, fashion, photography, painting and sculpture. Apart from the music sector whose Gross Domestic Product has been found to be a little below 1% from the government – sponsored KPMG report, it is unknown of that of the other sub-fields.
However, it is public knowledge that all actors in the other sub-disciplines one way or the other also add to the Gross Domestic Product albeit there are not scientific data to adduce. In the developed countries, arts and tourism contribute so much to their economies because of their commitment to the sector. Ghana will experience that massive boost if citizens re-orient their perception about it.
Apart from the economic activities, the arts are very important to the society because it mirrors what a society represent and keep them closely knit. The arts permeate all aspects of human life.
The way forward
The manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2016 elections is laden with brilliant ideas. It promises to make art education more effective, to build nine (9) theatres in the other regions apart from Greater Accra, establish a creative arts fund to make available funds to modernise and develop the sector, create a division of the high court, focusing on the creative arts to deal with all matters relating to intellectual property rights and complete with a dedicated enforcement unit.
It also says it will promote regional and district literature, music, dance and drama competitions, particularly in schools and colleges, setting up an additional copyright office in Tamale to cater for the northern sector in addition to the existing ones in Accra and Kumasi and establish a creative arts council to coordinate and harmonise the various interests and fragmented associations into a well-functioning body to protect the interests of members.
I will urge powers that be to make sure that these promises are tackled. My priority also lies in arts education: government should deploy teachers who are well-versed in creative arts to teach, they should provide schools with the requisite teaching and learning materials and scholarships should be awarded to students that excel in arts – related courses at all levels of the educational system.
Parents must encourage their children to peruse arts courses. Students who get low grades should not be pushed to the arts because it is not a field for scatterbrains and low achievers.
It is about time the media owners and their managers gave the arts and entertainment some prominence in their programming and publications. This is to say that corporate bodies and individuals with the wherewithal should put in their resources to make the cause fruitful.
Ghanaians need to understand that creative arts and entertainment also contribute to the economy of Ghana and that it serves as a major source of livelihood to some people. We can’t just pretend we don’t care!
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