An Intellectual property right management expert with the ministry of justice has praised the art infrastructure being developed by International artist Ibrahim Mahama, and has urged Dr Mohammed Awal, minister designate for tourism, arts and culture to work closely with the founder of the Savannah Centre for Contemporary art.
Dagbon kingdom is one of the oldest in Ghana and is blessed with a rich historical background, endowed with numerous potentials in traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, and folklore.
These potentials such as stories, tales, riddles, poetry, musical expressions, such as songs, instrumental music, dances, plays, paintings, drawings, carvings, textile design among others, have been relegated and not properly identified, documented, preserved, and protected without being lost to posterity. These cultural assets are getting diluted and extinction he said.
We are confronted with these challenges because the kingdom lacks a well developed and spacious modern edifice as our culture center with a traditional museum to take custody of our valuable cultural assets.
Our current Regional Center for National Culture is abandoned and no development or rehabilitation is seen over the last many decades thereby resulting in the facility not been able to function effectively and efficiently to serve the purpose upon which it was created.
The region has not considered this facility as much important and potential reservoir for the preservation of our traditional cultural expressions and folklore. The entire building has deteriorated to the extent that most activities related to the cultural exhibition and other important ceremonies do not longer take place there due to its current bad state which consequently affects it’s internally generated fund.
Ibrahim Nayi Issahku
According to Mr Nayi, we must begin to think of reorganizing and rebranding our cultural festivals and also take a critical look at the following potential tourist sites; Adiboo, Cherizong zole, Yeni Dabari, Nyemandu, Namburigu, Bagliga, and many others.
It is undeniable fact that these areas were major sources of our internal generated fund (IGF). The youth as drivers of local development must push and lobby through opinion leaders, politicians, and our chiefs to accept and embrace these initiatives. We must assure them of our full support and cooperation in this proposed initiative
