Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria || Editor Sanatu Zambang
22nd February, the British Council Ghana Arts Season 2 train was in Tamale to introduce creative entrepreneurs to the opportunities available to them what the council is doing with regards to the creative sector and how they can benefit from them.
The Ghana Arts Season 2 event which happened at Modern City Hotel is the first in Tamale to bring together the different sectors of the creative economy. It is curated under the British Council Creative Economy Initiative and will offer cultural and creative professionals a platform for showcasing, market access and networking with other creatives. to learn, sell and network among themselves.
Sanatu Zambang Studios engaged the project manager for Arts and Culture at the British Council, Mr Andrew Entsua-Mensah, to talk about his work and what the Ghana Art Season is all about.
According to Mr Andrew, his work seeks to lead on the cultural relations between the British people and the Ghana creative economy. ‘’We look at supporting Ghanaian creatives professionals in capacity building, collaboration and also grants to creatives to kind of scale their work’’.
Though the British Council have supported creatives with grants in Tamale to scale up their work this is the first time it is organising a creative seminar in the North. The team decided to hold the Ghana Arts Season Two in Tamale because they wanted to reach everyone and let every creative person irrespective of their location get access to the opportunities that the British Council is offering.
Mr Andrew had this to say when asked what Ghana Arts Season is all about ”that is what Ghana Arts Season is all about. To be able to allow creatives to network, learn and sell their works. We are not looking for an already-made creative. We are looking for creatives who we can tell their stories that we lifted them from this point to another point in their creative journey’’
‘’ Ghana Arts Season is an event curated to support creatives in increasing market access through our showcases. So you find out that we have different kinds of exhibitions for creatives with products and services for people to come and buy. We also provide panel discussions for thematic topics and we dubbed that one the creative hustle.’’
Participants at the event were taken through the So Creative E-Learning platform which is absolutely free. This platform is designed for creatives to help them belong to a community and shows them how to build upon their craft to monetise their talent. Creatives are supposed to sign up on the platform and complete 24 courses.
The creative Hussle Panel Discussion had Hajia Fatima Ibrahim, lecturer at Tamale Technical University, Alhaji Musah Abubakari, Dean for the Faculty of Creative Arts and Technology- at Tamale Technical University and Abdul Raafi Mohammed, Founder of Sanatu Zambang.
Hajia Fati Ibrahim, lecturer, at Tamale Technical University in the panel discussion said young creatives should take photography and social media seriously when they want to monetise their creative work. According to her social media helped her a lot to scale up and describe it as ‘’everybody’s TV.
She reiterated the importance of Trade Fairs to up-and-coming creative entrepreneurs. For her, she took every opportunity to attend the nearest Trade Fair exhibitions across the country and that has helped her to sell her products and gain her new clients.
Mohammed Abdul Raafi, Founder of Sanatu Zambang and a creative consultant advised prospective creative entrepreneurs to respect deadlines and keep to their promise to clients. According to him, if they want to monetise their work. Deadlines are very crucial to their development. In this work, he says referral is what gives jobs and if your previous clients cannot give a good testimony about you, your growth will be stagnant.
He also added that creatives should allow their heart to go through the product or service they are rendering. Most creatives he says because they are in a hurry to move to the next job, do not work passionately to produce products and services and so they finish with with the work, and they cannot see life in it.
Alhaji Musah also touched on creatives having a catalogue and contact card to give to potential clients. According to him, creatives need to sell themselves either in person or through social media. With the in-person, he talks about creating a catalogue of works and identifying potential clients to place it at their doorsteps.
