Reggae Dancehall Artiste, Stonebwoy, has called on government to critically prioritise the creative arts sector.

According to him, without the government creating a conducive atmosphere for creative industries to thrive, Ghana will not be able to realise its full potential on the global creative arts scene.

Ghana’s creative arts sector, according to some players, has been in decline for a while.

With government not investing much into its development, there are fears that the creative arts sector, particularly the movie industry will totally collapse.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Stonebwoy, said the government must be intentional about developing the creative arts sector in order to reap of its benefits.

Referring to Nigeria’s creative arts boom, he said it took the deliberate investment by the Nigerian government into the arts sector.

“Once upon a time, the government of Nigeria took a decision and gradually turned things around. I think this can be verified by some of the top gurus of Ghana music. And so therefore I think we can replicate such and such.

“There’s the creative arts side that exists, I think the President himself must be very interested. Because it is such that I know that there are so many things going on, but just to make a perfect example, that President at the time was specifically involved and called and said, ‘how? Why? Listen, you come, how do we do this? Put that together, put this together and they started the revolution of turning the 419 that everybody was aware of or whatever into the afrobeat giant of today,” he said.

Stonebwoy says the government must take steps to make the country’s creative arts scene attractive to investors.

“So these are the pointers, government has to be very very involved, our creative and arts structures have to really work, we have to invest, we have to make it encouraging for people to be able to invest in the movies, the music, the arts basically because they’re moving hand in hand. The Nigerian movies are speeding; they’re featuring in different heights so that is it. We need to pay critical attention,” he said.

He added, “Like some older person drew my attention, when you take like a PNP the entertainment news is at the back. That tells you the priority that is placed on creative arts in this country. I don’t think that we place priority on creative arts so well enough to be able to ‘compete’ on the global levels, because I don’t see a competition, I only see representation.

“Because once you’re pushing well enough you will represent for yourself, nobody can deny your place when it comes to creative arts you just need to be seen and pushed.  Because we have gurus who are of Ghanaian origin who reside abroad who can actually lend a hand when authorities want to.”

President Akufo-Addo presenting the State of the Nation Address (SONA), on Tuesday, highlighted key areas that his government wants to tackle with regards to the creative arts sector.

A lot of stakeholders have bemoaned the “sad” state of the creative arts sector with many blaming the current and previous government for paying very little attention to the sector.

But during his address to the nation, the President pledged to develop certain key areas of the creative arts sector.

They are as follows:

The first-ever Creative Arts Senior High School built in Kumasi

President Akufo-Addo said the maiden Creative Arts Senior High School project, which is situated at Kwadaso in the Ashanti Region, is near completion.

“Already, the first-ever Creative Arts Senior High School, located in Kwadaso in the Ashanti Region, is nearing completion,” he mentioned.

He explained the creative institution will nurture young artistes to develop and shape their talents to be at par with the global standards.

Plans to construct five tourism sites to meet international standards

President Akufo-Addo also said his government has upgraded five tourism sites in Ghana.

“The government has upgraded five tourism sites to meet international standards for increased visitation, and create jobs and incomes for the people. The new Minister for the sector, the industrious Ibrahim Awal Mohammed, has also indicated his determination to strengthen the Creative Arts industry in Ghana.”

Beyond the Return initiative

President Akufo-Addo said the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Ghana Tourism Authority are working towards the realisation of the ‘Beyond the Return’ initiative after a successful ‘Year of return’ in 2019.

“Mr Speaker, our nation continues to benefit from the ‘Year of Return’. Since then, we have intensified our engagement with Africans in the diaspora and all persons of African descent more positively in areas such as trade and investment co-operation, and skills and knowledge development, in what we call ‘Beyond the Return,” he said.

Installation of digital revenue systems at tourist centres in Ghana

President Akufo-Addo said digital revenue collection systems had been installed at vantage tourist points to adequately monitor income collection.

He said the move is making sites more attractive to tourists.

National Film Authority

“The governing board of the National Film Authority is in place, and even greater attention will be paid to this sector by government,” President Akufo-Addo added.

Gospel musician Empress Gifty Adorye says she is so far satisfied with government’s work for the Creative Arts industry however, there’s still room for more work to be done.

There have been mixed reactions among showbiz personalities especially after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) launched their 2020 manifesto a couple of weeks ago.

While some have chastised government for not fulfilling most of the promises made to the Arts industry in their 2016 manifesto, some have also commended them for a good job done.

One of such people is gospel singer Empress Gifty who in an interview with Hitz FM’s Noella Kharyne Yalley said save for a few qualms, she was generally satisfied with the NPP administration’s contributions to the Creative Arts industry.

“For me I will say yes, I’m satisfied but there’s more room for improvement. Three years has passed and what I would advise the government to do is to focus on the creative arts. We’re losing a lot.

“We’re losing our integrity, the love, the passion because, you put in so much money, but you don’t get it back. Now people don’t buy CD’s, streaming seems to be the ‘ish’ now, so we need a structure or system that will work for us, our royalties, and certain things that can push us”

She also prayed for the President to take another “look at our industry again, and see what he can do to support us. I think he promised the industry a whole lot of things and I’m really praying that with the few months left to elections, he can do something”.

Early last year, Empress Gifty married Hopeson Adorye, the Deputy Director for National Security under the NPP.

When asked what she will do in her capacity as the wife of a government official to influence government to help the Arts, she revealed that she plans to “use” her husband who is currently contesting as a parliamentary candidate in the Kpong Katamanso constituency as a means to bring the needed change in the industry.

“Now my husband is an NPP parliamentary candidate for Kpong Katamanso, and I’m hoping and praying that the people will give the mandate to my husband.

“I don’t want to promise, but if my husband wins I’m going to use him to bring a little change. And I’ll be a bit biased towards my gospel people. We’re suffering, it’s very hard to go to the studio, bring out an album and promote it.”

The Tourism Ministry in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) is collating information with the help of industry players to ascertain the extent of damage the coronavirus has had on it.

Barbara Oteng Gyasi, the Tourism Minister said the information would be sent to the Finance Ministry to get aid for members in the industry who can continue their work through innovative means until the outbreak is over.

“We want to make sure that the industry is not completely crippled by the outbreak by the time it’s over. I think that the government has demonstrated willingness to help the industry,” she said in an interview on Accra-based 3FM on Saturday.

Mrs Oteng Gyasi bemoaned the industry’s inability to leverage on the success of the Year of Return to grow the industry because of the coronavirus.

She urged people in the art especially musicians to find ways they can generate income while looking to re-book their shows.

“This is where accessing our movies, music and others through various platforms becomes significant. So that even if you can’t hold an event in a location, we can still have something online which can help generate some income.”

She added that her team is reviewing some of these strategies and solutions to help create these outlets for creatives until the threat of the virus is over.

“I think this is a learning curve for us and as soon as possible through the interim [Creative Arts] council, we will put some in place to support our artists.”