Monday, April 26, 2010

PROTECTING GHANA’S ARTS INDUSRTY – for a better Ghana

Art they say is the body, soul and spirit of a society, that’s why in every community the culture of arts plays an integral role in what ever they do as a people. The African art and culture has over the year gone through lots of transformation to suit the rapid development of a modern integrated society. Remember that Arts promotes culture, it helps identify cultural, ethnic and national groupings and many through arts has been able to project their culture over others creating cultural barriers and cultural inferiority within integrated societies worldwide.

In Ghana our art industry is not as buoyant as other neighboring countries even within our ECOWAS sub region although there are government institutions whose mandate are to see to the development and growth of the Art and Craft industry. We have institutions like the National Commission on Culture under whose umbrellas are the regional centers for national culture and these centers are where one can take a glimpse of our real Ghanaian arts and craft.

The mere observation of these centers will not only draw you closer to the realities of the art and craft industry in the country but also will give you a fair picture of how gloomy the future holds for the world cherished art industry in Ghana. A visit to the center for national culture in Accra popularly known as the ARTS CENTER tells the whole story of how Ghanaian although value arts, pays no or less attention to the up liftment of the art industry. Picture your self walking through the colliders of the administrative block of the ARTS CENTER itself; you would come to appreciate the uniqueness of arts through wood caverns, paintings and craft. But the story ends there immediately one enters into the show rooms where there are lots of colorful paintings, you will be confused with the settings and arrangements of the paintings hanging on the walls which are poorly arranged coupled with electrical and telephone cables left hanging amidst the paintings which are suppose to attract visitors who patronize the center.

Folks this is the center that promotes our arts and culture, I think the folks out there at the center will sit up and do the right thing.
Let me walk you through the place where we have these young dynamic boys carving their craft for OBRONI to admire and purchase it as a souvenir for friends and love ones outside the shores of Ghana. The environment and the condition under which these talented, creative and industrious young men work leaves much to be desired yet they strive to promote and project the Ghanaian art and craft in spite of the odds they are made to go through at the hands of the so call administrative of Ghana’s art and culture.

Rasta is one of the carvers and has been in the carving business for ten years, he says the art and craft business has seen a drastic decline in recent times. According to Rasta he use to sell his finish products on the local and international market and that earned him some good money, but the story has change in recent times because of the high cost of wood on the market and also high taxes impose on them by the A.M.A, other revenue collectors and the center for national culture . Our identity as Ghanaians and the promotion of our diverse culture lies soly in the bosom of Arts let us all rise up to support the art industry before it is too late.




Thursday, April 8, 2010

FOREIGN MEDIA ACKNOWLEDGES GHANA’S FOOTBALL LEGEND MOHAMMED POLO

One of Ghana’s most talented and living football legends Mohammed Polo has received huge media publicity recently from big international media organizations. There is no doubt in the minds of many football lovers both young and old that Mohammed Polo is acclaimed as one of Ghana’s most outstanding players ever to emerge in the football scene in the 70’s and 80’s, no doubts that he is also called the “master tactician”.

As Africa prepares itself to host the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the international press outfits are now focusing their camera lenses and microphones on former local players who through the dent of hard work have lifted the fortunes of football game on the African continent. And yes Mohammed Polo of Ghana is one among the few on the continent who have entertain and unite millions from diverse background with their style of play, inspire millions of youngsters into taking football as their professional career.

And the evidence is there for all to see and that is what moved Slovenian Broadcast Journalist Helena Milinkovic from RTV SLO – National TV to meet and interviewed the master dribbler at the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex where Mohammed Polo trains up and coming talented football player inspiring to be the Essien’s and the Stephen Appiah’s. The Slovenian Television team led by their Ghanaian counterparts were thrilled by the Legends own skills with the football right on the football pitch with his boys.

In an interview with Polo on the chances of African teams in the 2010 World Cup, he was optimistic that all the five African teams would make an impact in this year world cup because of it been held here in an African soil and that alone is a motivating factor for all the African teams but stress that all the teams including Ghana should not relent in their efforts in their making the continent proud. He noted the low incentives local players and their teams receives and said if nothing is done about it by Government and its stakeholders it will go a long way to affect the future generation of football players to come.

Mohammed Polo was very much appreciative to the Slovenian Television Team for acknowledging him and seeking an audience with him and hopes that Slovenians would grow to cherish Ghanaian footballers whenever they travel to the country to ply their trade.

The RTV SLO-Natioanl TV team are in the country shooting an EU co-sponsored documentary titled ‘Raising Awareness of the development Impact of our lifestyles between Ghana and the People of Slovenia”, which would be telecast in Slovenia and other European Union Member States beginning from May 2010.
The team includes Ziva Gobbo (Focus association),Helena Milinkovic (RTV Slo – national TV, journalist) Stojan Femec (RTV Slo, cameraman),Ebenezer Parditey (EHT network, coordinator in Ghana and Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye a broadcast Journalist currently working with Hot digital radio UK & former news editor of Vibe FM, Ghana.