Creativity and innovation are said to be important traits that build resilient and sustainable economies, and young people are at the heart of it, especially so, on the continent with the youngest people.
Therefore, the Creative Meet up Summit, is an opportunity to renew the collective effort in tapping into the youthful population to drive prosperity, irrespective of their location.
It’s on this backdrop that the British Council, through its Art and culture portfolio, seeks to provide avenues, in various art forms, including film and photography, Music, fashion and literature to educate, engage and provide market access opportunities for creatives to share their work.
Addressing participants at the Summit in Wa, Project Manager –Art & Culture for the Brtitish Council, Andrew Entsua Mensah, said the British High Commission seeks to support young creatives in various endeavours to serve as catalysts for developing the creative economy.
“It is with this goal that we are supporting creatives here in Wa, like we have with other young creatives in the past (from Accra to Kumasi to Tamale), to unearth their potential,” he indicated.
According to him, “Africa is home to the world’s most youthful population. There are nearly a billion people under the age of thirty-five. This is an astounding asset for us all.”
As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the British Council in Ghana, the project manager said it is evident through their work in the Education, Skills, enterprise, and the creative and cultural art space that many young people have attained the needed employable skills to improve their talents.
“In our quest to impact many young creatives, the Socreative E-learning platform has been created to reach many across Africa to hone their enterprise skills. Through our Creative Enterprise support programs, 60 film and music creatives were provided training, incubation, and acceleration to sharpen their skills and are now doing amazingly well, creating jobs for others,” Andrew Entsua Mensah added.
The project manager further shed light on some of the significant impact and support the British Council has provided young Ghanaian creatives and professionals through their programs.
“In the Music strand, 2 Musical professionals were supported to attend the Great Escape festival this year and 2023. Between 2022 and 2024, three (3) creatives in the Literature space were supported to attend the Cheltenham and Momentum festivals in the UK.”
“A 13-member delegation from the UK, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Wales joined their Ghanaian counterparts last year for the Pa Gya Festival as part of Accra World book capital events” he disclosed.
According to Mr. Mensah, as part of the 80th anniversary, the Telecel Ghana Music Award unsung category is supported with a grant to promote the work of budding music artists, build their creative business acumen, and provide market access to young music creatives.
Other connections built for creatives to work with their UK counterparts included the London Fashion Week and Liverpool Curators training for visual artists.
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