Hurray!!! NAFAC Is Here Again

It is back!!! Mark these dates - November 29 to December 4, 2014, in your dairies as all roads lead to Sunyani, the capital of the agriculturally renowned region of Brong Ahafo – christened “the Bread Basket of Ghana”. And the reason? Under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) is here again. There will be colourful display of authentic and unique Ghanaian cultural pomp and pageantry with lots of creative works to sample from and patronize.

The National Festival of Arts and Culture” was instituted as a national festival much akin to the traditional festivals of the paramountcies to celebrate the richness and vitality of our culture and traditions which has bestowed on us collectively and holistically the wisdom, pride, dignity, distinctiveness, opulence, bravery, sagacity and the rich splendor exhibited through national unity in cultural diversity. NAFAC as a biennial event offers a common platform for all the regions to come together to display the very best of their culture and traditions to the admiration of all and sundry.

It is instructive in times as these to acknowledge the noble vision of Dr. Alexander Atta Yaw Kyeremanten, the then Director of the Cultural Centre who conceptualised the festival idea in 1961.The fact that NAFAC has lived on through these years is a clear manifestation of the strength and sustainability of a home-grown programme owned by the people and players in the industry.

NAFAC 2014 is being celebrated under the theme: The Creative industry and Tourism: A Platform for National Development. This theme finds expression in government's vision to ensure the strong emergence of a vibrant creative economy to improve and advance the tourism industry as well as significantly impact positively on the national economy. This theme is also very timely, especially at a time when the mandate of the previous Ministry of Tourism has been expanded to include Culture and Creative Arts.

The highpoint of the festival will be the grand durbar of chiefs and people from all over the country on Saturday, the 29th of November.

Themenu of activities also includes Regional Day Celebrations whereby the regions would be given the platform to exhibit the very best of their culture to all and sundry. Traditional drumming and dancing, art and craft exhibitions and other performances would be on display from each region.

Also on stream would be Traditional Beauty Pageants, Women and Children's Day Programmes, Choral Festivals, Ghanaian Movie Nights, Contemporary Music and Dance Nights, Drama and Theatre Nights, Youth Day Activities and a multiplicity of other cultural programmes.

Ghanaians and all lovers of authentic African culture are invited to witness the resplendent display of chieftaincy paraphilia, the awe and sway, the ordered and choreographed movement in style and pattern, the rhythmic booming of the “fontonfrom” drumsand wailing of the “dondo” and “brekete” as a strong statement of the resilience of our culture and institutions of chieftaincy and its continuous relevance as a valued institution today and tomorrow.

Considering the fact that Ghana is a heterogeneous society there is the need for us all to explore the potential inter-ethnic relations as an important tool to promote oneness in our cultural diversity. Sadly, ethnicity is subtly being misrepresented in our socio-political environment today to create disaffection and rivalry to wish away our rich cultural diversities which greatly constitute our unique Ghanaian culture.

We need to use our culture to proffer solutions of our material problems by building up a spirit of confidence in our dear people which will bring about the needed improvement in our spiritual and moral life. The quality of the culture of our country should be such as to lead to quality of life for our people.

I entreat all to join hands for us to collectively celebrate NAFAC 2014 with the theme in mind that the Creative Arts and Tourism contribute to national development as viable planks of non-traditional exports. I would therefore entreat Ghanaian youth to be guarded at all times by the positive upbringing of our culture that inure the youth to contribute to national development.

Finally, as people troop to the Brong Ahafo region for the festival, I encourage all to take time to sample and visit the numerous, refreshing and distinctive tourist attractions in the region. These include the Pumpum River which falls 70 meters down some beautiful rocky steps to form the Kintampo Falls, as it continues its journey towards the Black Volta. The Fuller Falls, 7 kilometres west of Kintampo, (the centre point of the country), the River Tano Pool which houses sacred fish that are jealously protected by the local community who live along the river near Techiman.

Other types of tourist attractions are caves, sanctuaries and groves. The Buabeng-Fiema Monkey sanctuary, located 22 kilometers north of Nkoranza, serves as home for black and white colobus and mona monkeys. The forest also provides a natural habitat for different species of butterfly. Buoyem caves, which are hidden in a dry semi-deciduous forest, house a large colony of rosette fruit bats. There is also theTanoboase Sacred Grove which is believed to be the cradle of Brong civilization, serving as a hideout to the Brongs during the 18th century Brong-Ashanti wars.

BOAKYE-BOATENG PRINCE
HEAD, PUBLIC RELATIONS
MINISTRY OF TOURISM, CULTURE AND CREATIVE ARTS
[email protected] / [email protected]

A CULTURAL TROUPE PERFORMING DURING WESTERN REGIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS AND CULTURE