CULTURAL NEWS
Thursday, October 25 – 31, 2007
Six more to gain from Culture Fund
By: JOHN OWOO
THE board of the Ghana Culture Fund will soon meet to decide on the next batch of organizations to benefit from its grants following the receipt of a Peer Review Committee’s recommendation of six out of fifty-two applications for funds for a variety of projects.
The final decision for approval of grants can only come from the board and it awarded GH¢62,800 to five outfits during its first disbursement of funds last July. The second call for applications from interested group and individuals by the Institute for Music and Development, Administrators of the fund, was made soon after that through announcements and advertisements in both the print and electronic media.
Members of the Peer Review Committee that deliberated on the applications for two days are Dr. Wilhelmina Donkoh, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST, Nana-Banyin Dadson, editor of Graphic Showbiz and Dr. Mohammed Ben Abdallah, a playwright and Senior Lecturer at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon.
The others are Prof. Ablade Glover, a former Dean of the College of Art, KNUST and Director of the Artists Alliance Gallery, Kofi Bucknor, an Actor and current Director of Ghana Television, Ebow Hawson, an Arts Administrator, Godfrey Mensah Amoah, a violinist and former leader of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Committee members vetted each application based on its relevance, sustainability, realistic budget, capacity of applicants to carry our projects, linkage of projects to development and poverty alleviation as well as development and growth of the arts in general.
The applications, which came from all over the country, asked for funds for projects relating to areas such as music, literature film, painting, sculpture, bead-making, theatre, dance, publishing, tourism and education.
The Ghana Cultural Fund was established this year by the Royal Danish embassy in Ghana and the Danish Centre for Culture and Development in Denmark. It has a total budget of GH¢5.65 million and is scheduled to run from 2007 to 2009.
Objectives of the fund include the strengthening of inter cultural relations, mutual understanding and promotion of democratic values among the people of Ghana through intercultural expressions and interactions. It is also to foster Ghanaian/Danish collaborations through the contemporary arts and the preservation of our shared cultural heritage.
*Source:
Graphic Showbiz - Thursday, October 25 – 31, 2007 Page: 17 |