Where is the money? – Funding and selling the creative product

Creativity abounds in Africa, yet practitioners in the entertainment and creative industries in Africa still face challenges that keep them from attaining their potential and stunt their economic growth. Weak structures, lack of professionalism, piracy and other issues rife in the industries are amongst the obstacles in the way of entertainment and creative industries.

On the 17th and 19th of July 2012, Dtalkshop will host another edition of the Wetin Lawyers Dey Do… Sef? for entertainment and creative industries, in Kumasi and Accra, respectively. The aim of this workshop is to foster the establishment of structures and address the issues impeding the growth of the entertainment and creative industries from the legal perspective. The theme this year, 'Where is the money? – Funding and selling the creative product', will cover discussions on identifying and protecting intellectual property (IP) rights; using IP as collateral; and exploiting the creative product.

Since the first of this edition of the Wetin Lawyers Dey Do… Sef? workshops was hosted in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2006, in addition to their concerns about piracy and protecting their intellectual property rights, participants have highlighted and identified several other challenges hampering the growth of the entertainment and creative industries including the fact that there is a wide gap between the financial institutions and practitioners, as financial institutions have little understanding of the industries, and, as expected, have been reluctant to play in the seemingly risky and uncertain terrain of the creative enterprise.

With the re-awakening of interest from financial institutions, Dtalkshop hopes that in addition to tackling issues concerning the trade of IP rights, this edition of the workshop will also provide a platform where interested financial institutions and practitioners can engage each other towards a better informed financing structure for creative products. Amongst the confirmed financial institutions participating in the workshop is Merchant Bank Ghana whose representatives will speak about the Bank's products and what it is doing in and for the entertainment and creative industries. Resource persons include, Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Bar Association, Mr. Anthony Forson, and Mr. Efere Ozako, a legal practitioner from Nigeria. The regulatory bodies overseeing the activities in the entertainment industries such as the Copyright Office will also be present.

In attendance at last year's workshop in Accra, which was supported by British Council, Multichoice Ghana, MUSIGA and Pidgen Music, were veteran musician, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and award winning producer and actress, Akofa Edjeani Asiedu. Also present were representatives from the Ministry of Communication, the National Commission on Culture, Ghana Police and the Copyright Office.

Dtalkshop, with these workshops, aims to foster the development of viable structures that accommodate and encourage the participation of other professionals who are indispensable in growing the entertainment and creative industries, and generating sustainable revenues for practitioners. We expect fruitful deliberations and knowledge transfer that will benefit the industries.

This year's edition is supported by the British Council Ghana and Multichoice Ghana. Participation in the workshop is free.

Wetin Lawyers Dey Do… Sef? For Entertainment and Creative Industries

Theme: Where is the money? – Funding and selling the creative product

Date: 17th July 2012 (Kumasi, Ghana) and 19th July 2012 (Accra, Ghana)

Time: 9am
Venue: British Council (Kumasi and Accra)
Contact: [email protected]