The Initiative
The Ghana Culture Forum was proposed and initiated at the UNESCO Consultative Forum on the “Power of Culture in Development” held at the erstwhile African Royal Beach Hotel, Nungua – Accra, on 28th April 2011. It became clear at the forum that the time was long past for a Civil Society Advocacy Forum on Cultural Heritage to be formed to pursue and intervene on issues related to the domain and its place in overall national development policies.
Sixteen pioneers (see table below) started working together to establish GCF as the advocacy platform for culture and development action. The initial name of GCF was Ghana Heritage Forum. However, after due deliberation, the house changed the name to Ghana Culture Forum to give it a much broader focus.
The Ghana Culture Forum (GCF) is a membership-based civil society consultative forum. It is a network of cultural practitioners, activists, and organisations united around a common vision of affirming the cultural foundations of development and enhancing the cultural sector.
The GCF envisions itself as a platform that ensures a sense of collective ownership and the development of a critical mass of cultural practitioners committed to the affirmation of the Ghanaian and African cultural heritage and the development of national culture.
The work of the Ghana Culture Forum revolves around the following key objectives.
We consider policy and advocacy as essential drivers of developments within the creative economy. Considering this, policy and advocacy actions are at heart of the work of the Ghana Culture Forum. We have been heavily involved in policy and advocacy work with regards to key legislations within the cultural sector.
The place of research cannot be downplayed in the development equation of any industry. GCF seeks not only to lead in research but also inspire research within the cultural space. One of such is mapping of the cultural sector to ascertain our contribution to the national economy.
Enhancing the capacity of practitioners within the cultural space is of a major concern to GCF. Whilst the success of the cultural sector depends on the enabling environment provided for by government, there should be equal attention given to the human resource development exponent. The targets should include developing the creative skills as well as knowledge sharing in art business and law.
GCF was once an avenue for the disbursement of funding support from the then Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and the Government of Ghana for the programmes and projects of creatives and cultural practitioners. GCF developed a Fund Disbursement Mechanism, the Ghana Culture Funding Scheme (GCFS) that administered funds.
The Ghana Culture Funding Scheme (GCFS) is a fund-generation and disbursement scheme administered by the Ghana Culture Forum (GCF). It seeks to promote the active development of the Culture and Heritage of Ghana. Its scope is restricted to facilitating financial support for the activities of the membership of the GCF.
The Ghana Culture Funding Scheme (GCFS) is committed solely to the development and promotion of the best of Ghanaian creativity and heritage under the aegis of the Ghana Culture Forum. Funds disbursed may be used only in furtherance of cultural projects and activities that go to promote the aims and objectives of a particular artistic domain or cultural institution/community.
