Ghana’s cultural policy was meant to empower the Ghanaian people...
… to acquire knowledge and skills about their traditions and identity. However, cultural policy in Ghana has had a chequered history since the pre- independence era. This comprises the establishments of an Arts Council, Institutes, and Commissions on Culture at various points in time. In order to ensure that the cultural life of the people in Ghana is well organised and managed such that Ghanaians will learn and cherish their cultural life, an executive instrument established Centres of National Culture (CNCs) in 1990. These Centres held the responsibility of developing strategies and programmes aimed at preserving the traditions and customs of the people and enhancing the status of cultural bearers in Ghana. They also have the mandate to empower artists and cultural bearers by enhancing their status in society. Furthermore, they promote the economic viability of artistic resources and cultural products in Ghana.
many independent states worked to recapture African culture and history that had been “mutilated and reinvented by colonial interest”.
Eyram Eric
Kwasi Fiagbedzi
Independent Scholar, Ethnomusicologist, Performing Artist
Eyram Eric Kwasi Fiagbedzi teaches in the Department of Music, University of Ghana, Legon. He specialises in the field of Ethnomusicology and handles courses in African Diasporic musical traditions, histories and performance practices in African music. His research interests include innovations in indigenous Ghanaian music performances, sustainability of musical genres and contemporary issues in the Ghanaian music industry. He is also interested in cultural policies and the arts in Africa. He is the founder and leader of the Jama Ensemble at the Department of Music, University of Ghana, Legon. He holds PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He has coordinated a number of national and international academic and professional projects. He was a grant recipient of the DAAD Study Visits and Study Seminars for Groups of Foreign Students to Germany in 2023. He has a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes.
Photos: Ghana Women Dance, photo USAID, Kasia McCormick, 2012; Entrance to University of Ghana, Legon, photo by Forgive Kwashie Agoboada; The National Drama Company of the National Theatre of Ghana, PANAFEST 2014; University of Ghana Library, photo by Ronnie Pitman; The procession and performance by groups representing the Ashanti region, 2019 National Festival of Arts and Culture in Koforidua. Images for use from author, or under creative commons and / or public domain.