Investing in arts is more valuable than investing in lands and bonds, according to the Director for Artist Alliance Gallery, Professor Ablade Glover.
He said this during an event organized in honour of the president of Ford Foundation, Mr. Darren Walker.
Mr. Walker is on a tour to West Africa with his first stop being Ghana where he engaged arts lovers and business men on how African businesses can take advantage of the Ghanaian creative arts industry and make some economic gains.
The event was graced by a cross section of stakeholders from the local as well as the international community.
Among these include connoisseurs in the Ghanaian arts industry, government officials, the diplomatic corps and officials of the Ford Foundation West Africa. Prof. Glover further indicated that the Artist Alliance Gallery is a window to practical Ghanaian artist.
The gallery was established to bridge the gap between studying arts and practicing arts as well as give exposure to artists and in essence filling a void in the Ghanaian creative arts industry.
He stated that the time taken to sell arts, the materials needed to produce them and the exposure of the artist to the general public are among the many challenges facing the Ghanaian artist.
Also, arts has been branded as a poverty stricken career path in Ghana, he noted.
He therefore called on the government to ensure that artists in the creative arts industry are given the necessary attention as they can spur economic growth and development.
Professor Glover called on the government and all stakeholders in Ghanaian educational sector to make arts education a priority of “our educational curriculum, especially in the primary and secondary schools.”
He further encouraged the youth to take arts education and the arts industry in general seriously since it is a potential gold mine whose rewards are enormous.
