YFM Dialogues With The Youth On Creativity

Perhaps the success of the maiden edition of ‘Y Dialogues’ on 24th June, 2015 was the reason why as early as 9:30am the Silver Lounge, Accra Mall was filled to capacity with various youth groups waiting in great anticipation to experience another inspiring moment in the second edition of the Dialogue Series on Saturday, 8th August, 2015.

The second edition of ‘Y Dialogues’ with Nana Kofi Asihene, the award winning video director, was highly anticipated as the first edition proved very worthwhile for all participants. As usual it demonstrated to be a moment of knowledge-sharing, inspiration, empowerment and networking.

Guests for the event included members of the Y Campus Express, students from various tertiary institutions in the country, TV and radio presenters and other personalities. Officials of Global Media Alliance, the mother company of YFM, as well as some known YFM faces were also present.

With creativity as his hallmark, Nana Kofi Asihene creatively used illustrations and real life situations to share his successes, failures and challenges with an enthusiastic young audience who were ready to grab as much as they could from him.

Mr. Asihene said, ‘’I knew at a very young age that I wanted to become an artist and fortunately for me I received the maximum encouragement from my family to develop my talents,’’ adding that, ‘’I focused hard in achieving my dream to reach this far as a video director.’’

He indicated that in order to stand out you must identify your own unique style of work since every artist has something unique which they are identified with. He advised the youth to read widely, learn from people’s experiences and collaborate with people with similar interests in order to be seen and heard.

‘’You must work hard at your idea to bring it to fruition otherwise someone else may implement that same idea which you did not utilize. You must also be ready to work for free when you are beginning any project if you want to be recognised and eventually make money.

In his remarks, the President of Global Shapers International, Accra Hub, Gary Al-Smith, disclosed that, ‘’we partnered YFM because they are the pulse of young people in Ghana and it is the right thing to do since there is no better station in Ghana to partner for such an innovative project than YFM.’’

Gary said Nana Kofi Asihene is an amazing person who continues to break new grounds in video directing in Ghana and beyond. He added that ‘Y Dialogues’ is a place to be and experience as a young person because it provides an opportunity for young talented people to be honed, seen and heard in Ghana.

To give true meaning to the Dialogues, the second session dubbed the ‘Ideas Session’ was dedicated to young upcoming participants who are engaged in different projects the opportunity to share their works with the audience. Many of them excitedly shared their creative works and also received pieces of advice on their work from Nana Kofi Asihene.

As a way of showing that it is truly the station for the young and the young at heart and to strategically position the Y Campus Express, the first ever National Executives of the Y Campus Express were inaugurated to steer affairs of the group on the campuses of various tertiary institutions in the country.

Y Dialogues was instituted by YFM to promote youth empowerment, activism, mentorship, entrepreneurship, community engagement and career development.

For more information, the general public is encouraged to tune in to Y107.9 in Accra, Y102.5 in Kumasi and Y97.9 in Takoradi or check out www.yfmghana.com.

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