The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts in fulfilment of its mandate has planned a series of sensitisation workshops to capture the views and aspirations of all stakeholders in the industry on the Creative Arts Legal and Regulatory Framework.

The first of the sensitisation workshops thus took place on Friday, May 15, 2015 at the Exhibition Hall, National Theatre at 10 a.m.

 Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has said for Ghana to optimise the contribution of the creative industry to the economy, it needed to provide a regulatory framework and conducive environment.
 She said it was for this reason, that President John Dramani Mahama created the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts to drive the necessary transformation to make the sector attractive and productive.
 Mrs Ofosu Adjare said this during a day’s stakeholder sensitisation workshop on the Creative Arts legal and regulatory framework in Accra on Friday.

 The draft legal and regulatory framework, when passed will be called the “Creative industry scheme” and it seeks to create an enabling environment through direct and indirect support for arts, education, artistes, creative practitioners and organisations.
 It is also to co-ordinate and facilitate activities of artistes and creative practitioners, organisations, government and cultural agencies nationally and internationally.
 The Minister said the plan of the Ministry for the creative arts industry was to focus on building knowledge and co-operation with organisations and other companies.
 She said in developing the legal and regulatory framework, stakeholders must begin to discuss what could be done to enhance the citizen’s creative skills.

 Mrs Ofosu Adjare said two years ago, the President realised that the creative industry could contribute significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and could even become the biggest export product or the fastest growing sector in terms of employment and its economic benefits.
 She said the capacity of the sector to provide solutions to the country’s unemployment challenges was enormous, since the industry provides an array of professions in the value chain including creative artistes, innovators, engineers, lawyers, marketing consultants and tax experts.
“Elsewhere especially in Europe, America and the Asian countries, the creative industry has overtaken the known traditional sources of wealth generation and employment creation, and this is besides providing income and employment to the teeming population; it also promotes the socio-cultural life and enhances discourse among nations,” Mrs Ofosu Adjare said.
 She said the framework would help creative arts entrepreneurs to get a better understanding of the sector and how it could be of benefit to them.

http://www.ghanaculture.gov.gh/index1.php?linkid=65&archiveid=2306&page=1&adate=18/05/2015