Government to increase Film Fund allocation next year, Mahama tells outgoing Swiss envoy
President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that Government will make a larger allocation to the Film Fund next year, building on the GH¢20 million already released this year for the development of Ghana’s film industry.
This was announced at a farewell ceremony held for Switzerland’s outgoing Ambassador to Ghana, Simone Giger, who is proceeding to Uzbekistan for her next posting after four years in the country.
President Mahama said beneficiaries of the Film Fund were currently determining how best to use the resources to strengthen the sector.
He said Government had also allocated a further GH¢20 million to the Creative Arts Fund to support practitioners across the broader creative industry, with the sector itself to determine how the funds should be utilised.
“Depending on how effectively the funds are used, Government will consider increasing allocations in subsequent years,” he said, adding that Ghana possesses extraordinary creative talent that cannot be fully realised without deliberate government support.
He said that over the next three years, Government would continue to make strategic investments in the creative sector, with the objective of boosting tourism, promoting the country’s culture, and strengthening its global brand.
Ambassador Giger, who has built relationships across Ghana’s creative industry during her tenure, said she had lived in ten countries over the past twenty years but had never encountered a country with such extraordinary creative energy.
“Ghana’s musicians, visual artists and designers are an incredible national treasure,” she said, adding that she believed the country’s global standing would grow if it continued to leverage this talent as part of its foreign policy and soft power.
She disclosed plans to establish a small Ghana Cultural Centre at the Swiss Residence in Tashkent, where she hopes to introduce Ghanaian music and art to her new hosts, and possibly create opportunities for cultural exchange between the two countries.
President Mahama assured the ambassador that the support extended to Ghana’s creative industry during her tenure would continue, and that she would always be welcome back to the country.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
