Vice-Presidential candidate of the biggest opposition party – the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has said that the party will roll out efficient programs and policies to promote the Creative Industry when given the mandate on December 7 to rule this country again.
She made this statement during an interaction session with stakeholders of the creative sector on Thursday. According to her, throughout history, nations across the world have drawn their identity and success from writers, singers, poets, Filmmakers, Artists and many works of art, which marked the evolution of their respective cultures.
“The stories that are told through the Art often become the prism through which others perceive and interact with culture and society. Therefore, we cannot underestimate the role which art plays in developing a nation,” she stated.
She further noted that the creative art has become an integral part of our digital economy, as it heavily depends on audio and visual materials from copy writers, influencers, poets and animation producers, among others.
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“We must harness the potential of this industry as part of our march into the future. The arts contribute more than $800 billion to the America economy, this is more than 4 percent of GDP. Even if we cannot do this here in Ghana immediately, we can make this sector more productive through pragmatic and innovative measures. If we do this right, it will help create employment for the young creative people who generate content through many fascinating ways,” she added.
According to her, the people’s manifesto has made provisions for the Ghana Association of Writers to enter into a national writing contest to support the promotion of the best literary works. She also said the NDC will upgrade NAFTI into a fully-fledged multimedia University for theatre arts and music.
She noted that, the NDC government will setup a system of legal aid for creative artists to help fight creative or intellectual theft and plagiarism by others, adding that, the NDC government have plans to facilitate the enrollment of creative artists into an informal pension scheme, a plan, intended to cushion the Artist especially as they get older.
By Jerrina Dzifa Fiagbedzi || ghananewsonline.com.gh