Gov't holds consultative meeting with stakeholders in creative industry

sQuashie

May 17, 2015 8:22 AM

The engagement was to solicit the views of the players to input into the draft bill, which would serve as a legal and regulatory framework.

Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare

The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, at the weekend held a consultative meeting with stakeholders in the creative arts industry to dialogue on the Film Development and Classification Bill.

Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare, the Tourism Minister said the development of the legal framework would enable the Creative Arts sector to establish a council, which would be in charge of all issues pertaining to the management and regulation of the sector.

She said similar legal and regularity frameworks have been developed for the Tourism and Culture sectors of the Ministry hence the need to develop one for the Creative Arts sector too.

Mrs Ofosu Adjare said the development of a legal and regulatory framework would help creative arts entrepreneurs get better understanding of the industry and what it has in store for them.

She said the consultative meeting was to discuss a draft report by a technical committee for the creative arts sector and to seek divergent views.

She noted that in Europe, America and the Asian countries, the industry had overtaken the known traditional sources of wealth generation and employment creation.

“Aside from providing income and employment to the teeming population, the industry also promote the socio-economic cultural life and enhance discourse among nations,” she added.

She said the industry provides a long array of professions in the value chain such as creative artists, innovators, engineers, architects, vendors, financial analysts, lawyers, consultants, tax experts and engineers.

“For Ghana to also optimise the contribution of the industry to the economy there is the need to provide a regulatory framework that will provide a conducive environment for the thriving of the industry,” she stated.

She said the creative arts industry if packaged well could contribute significantly to the GDP of the country and could serve as the biggest export product and the fastest growing sector.

Mr Akunu Dake, Vice Chairperson, Ghana Culture Forum, said the consultative meeting was also to create awareness on the draft bill among industry players before it gets to Cabinet.

This he said would enable stakeholder root or support the bill and also help propagate what members of the sector stand to gain if passed.

h/t - GNA

sQuashie