Culture

The overall objective of the Danish Ghanaian Culture and Development Programme is to promote cultural development by strengthening innovative and independent cultural operators in Ghana and give them opportunities to present pieces of excellence to a wide and diverse audience.

Underlying considerations 

The Culture Programme started in 2007 as a pioneering initiative to support and promote cultural development in Ghana. Reviews of the programme (2009, 2011) asserts that the Culture Programme has made a positive impact on the arts scene in Ghana.  It has provided an avenue of unique and highly relevant support for cultural operators which was nonexistent before.  It is in many ways seen as a best practice model for such culture funds in developing countries. The new phase consolidates the gains already achieved and provides a results oriented phase out programme while providing a platform of mutual understanding and knowledge about Denmark in Ghana. 

Description of programme 

The overall objective of the Danish Ghanaian Culture and Development Programme is to promote cultural development by strengthening innovative and independent cultural operators in Ghana and give them opportunities to present pieces of excellence to a wide and diverse audience.  It also aims to strengthen Ghanaian-Danish collaboration through contemporary art and cultural exchanges leading to transfer of knowledge. These objectives will eventually also lead to an increased knowledge and appreciation of Denmark and Danish development assistance in Ghana.

The Culture Programme aims to:

• Promote the arts and culture as a medium for free expressions, debates and reflections on human and social issues as an integrated part of an open and pluralistic society.
• Stimulate children and youths creativity and self-confidence as well as school and career opportunities through informal arts education.
• Develop technical capacities of selected creative industries such as music festivals and animation films through cooperation with professional operators.
• Promote mutual understanding and co-operation between the people of Ghana and Denmark around art and cultural activities

The programme has two key components: The “Denmark-Ghana Culture Fund” is a funding mechanism with competitive calls for proposals, from Ghanaian organizations. The Ghana Denmark culture fund has as its objective to strengthen innovative and independent cultural operators in Ghana and increase the knowledge and appreciation of Danish Development Assistance in Ghana through culture co-operation.

The “Partnership projects” is between Danish and Ghanaian organisations identified at the onset of the culture programme. All the partnership projects will have a local component, implemented by the local partner, and technical assistance component covering the input from the Danish partner. 

As a key principle, all projects will be based on a clear vision, a strong local anchoring and a need for support and engagement in the culture environment in Ghana. In the identification of partnership projects, it has thus been a main criterion that the Danish partners are centres of excellence within the respective field and are able to utilise this knowledge in a multicultural setting. In this way, the partners are able to respond adequately and professionally to needs for capacity building and support the development of a vibrant and inclusive culture sector with progressive artists and creative industries that have a strong socio-economic potential.