Catherine Abelema Afeku
Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Ms Catherine Abelema Afeku, has called for increased support and investments to grow the sector.
She indicated that the ministry was working to develop appropriate policies and administrative structures that can propel the growth of the industry as a major pillar for socio-economic advancement. She said that was the way forward to grow the buoyant sector.
This was contained in a speech read on her behalf at the Central Regional Pre-durbar of the Festival of Arts and Culture (Pre-NAFAC) held at Kasoa last Saturday.
Ms Afeku said: “The Creative Arts Industry as a platform for national development forms an integral part towards generating employment and wealth creation.”
The industry has long ceased to be a field for anybody as it requires a high sense of intelligence, technology and combination of multi-skills to sustain businesses.
According to the minister, investments in the sector must be based on the nation’s cultural values and modern technology to promote development in rural and urban areas to stabilize the economy.
She underscored the immeasurable contributions of the annual Pre-durbar festival as the rallying point for arts enthusiasts to exhibit artistic peculiarities.
It also unearths the tourism potentials, new and existing dance forms, traditional cuisines, technology interventions, educational tourism, glamour and regalia of customs and traditional governance.
The Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan, who could not conceal his cultural antics and felicitations, joined the celebrants and lauded the stakeholders for an excellent initiative.
He described culture as “an incontestable bedrock of the existence of every society” and praised the minister for her indefatigable role in bringing it up to speed with modern trends.