Ghanaian entertainment critic, Kwaku Osei Korankye Asiedu, says Ghana’s creative arts sector has the potential to create jobs and reduce unemployment if government and industry players invest properly in it.
Sitting down with Emmanuel Kwasi Afriyie on Good Afternoon Ghana on Metro TV on Monday, May 11, KOKA argued that the country’s growing youth population is increasingly turning to creative arts, fashion, dance and entertainment for opportunities.
According to him, the sector needs more support structures, funding and policy direction to thrive.
“The creative arts, tourism, culture is the way to go because that is what every kid wants to do,” he said.
KOKA explained that government cannot employ every young person and must therefore create an enabling environment for creatives to build sustainable businesses.
“It is not everybody that a government can employ,” he stated. “So you need to widen and open the space, get them event centres, get them the sporting fields, get them the places they can go to live their life.”
He said expanding the entertainment ecosystem would create opportunities for dancers, fashion designers, makeup artists, event organisers, musicians and digital content creators.
“Look at dance. Dance is everywhere. Look at fashion. All of them are all over,” he noted.
He also urged government to provide startup support and incentives for young creatives.
“You need to protect them. You need to provide incentives for them to be able, startups for them to be able to grow and go,” he said.
KOKA further stressed the need for more regional entertainment and cultural events to spread economic activity beyond Accra.
“If every region has events, you wouldn’t have pressure on government about unemployment,” he argued.
He referenced initiatives such as district-level cultural festivals and talent competitions as avenues that could help discover and develop young talents across the country.
According to him, Ghana should adopt a structured talent development model similar to sports development systems.
“Let’s have a dance competition,” he suggested. “The state puts an amount of money on it and digitise the platforms where those who go through the competitions will upload their videos.”
KOKA also criticised the lack of continuity in talent grooming programmes, citing the collapse of some music talent discovery platforms.
He maintained that if properly organised, the creative industry could become one of Ghana’s biggest economic sectors while helping tackle youth unemployment.
