Women artists undergo advocacy training
The Women’s Arts Institute, Africa, has completed a four-day advocacy training in Accra for its members to build their capacity to engage state institutions on issues confronting their businesses.
The Women’s Arts Institute, Africa, is a network of creative professionals and organisations committed to mobilizing women in the arts to experiment and explore creative expressions leading to the development of African societies and economic gains.
The training is a prerequisite for a business advocacy project funded by BUSAC.
Madam Akwele Suma Glory, President of the Institute, said the institute started work in October 2006 in Accra.
It was focused on leading the world-wide call on the linkages between the arts and development in Ghana and to bridge the rhetoric gap on the arts and their essence to citizen’s welfare.
“Art is life and the convergence of different arts is a journey to refueling the energies of Ghana to give life to her being. Without the arts there will be no movement. The world will be still and nothing,” Madam Glory said.
Hon Dzifa Gomashie, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, said: “What defined a nation are its arts, culture, customs and traditions. Culture is the very foundation of the Ghanaian society”.
She said customs and traditions told us where we came from, the arts showed us where we stood and where we might be going while the arts provided a mirror to our collective and individual beings.
The advocacy training is part of a 10-month long project designed to seek the implementation of the Ghana Cultural True Fund.
The 38 participants, drawn from Winneba, Kasoa, Pokuase, Tema, Kumasi, Bolga and Tamale, include professionals from the visual arts, performing arts and the film industry.
Like many of the projects undertaken by the institute to support women in the arts, this initiative will help artists in Ghana to access a fund where they could tap resources to produce work for sale leading to better businesses.
Source: GNA