The Centre for National Culture (CNC), Greater Accra, has launched the first ever student arts competition in Ghana, Youth Canvas, today in Accra. The competition is designed to use arts as a vehicle to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Youth Canvas was designed by the Youth Development Department under the CNC, which is an agency set up by the National Commission on Culture (NCC). Students and patrons from various senior high schools in Accra were present at the launch.
Centre for National Culture (CNC), which has sister agencies across Ghana, is known for creating youth engaged programs for promoting culture and creative arts especially for the youth and students.
CNC Greater Accra recently organised CNC Ebo-Whyte Students Drama Competition, Tree of Life- an all-round painting, reading, dance and drama event for basic schools in Greater Accra, most often in collaboration with Ghana Education Service (GES).
In attendance at the launch of the Youth Canvas was Mr. Desmond Ali, Ghana Education Service Regional Cultural Coordinator – Greater Accra who expressed excitement for the collaboration between CNC and GES to bring such concept to live;
“Art is life! … And we know all that through this all that students learn in senior high school would be practicalised when this competition comes off. We are also praying that the Centre for National Culture would think about the basic schools since now we have Creative Arts and Design”
“This combines both Visual Art, Design and Performing Arts so that the rationale behind the creation of the new curriculum would be achieved. That is get the Ghanaian artistically literate after school and the long term goal is to have participants from this competition participating in international competitions,” added Mr. Desmond Ali.
Former Head of Visual Arts, and Public Relations (CNC); Mr. Kizito Nii Amartey – currently with the National Commission on Culture present at the workshop fulfilled that an event as this was about to come to fruition for the children:
“Apart from the nostalgia, I am also very excited because I didn’t have the opportunity they have today but by God’s grace this is where I am and how I have turned up. I felt like just the little effort we are putting in and exposing them to global opportunities; working with the sustainable development goals (SDG) in mind, something that has become topical globally but unfortunately the average youth knows nothing about”
“Now they are able to contribute to a world agenda (SDG); seeing their enthusiasm – their facilitators and teachers – for me I am very excited and my heart is very overwhelmed. I am looking forward to expanding this beyond Greater Accra and looking at the whole nation.
Mr. Kizito Nii Amartey, a renowned artist believes Arts can be used to fight poverty “I think the number 1 (Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1: No poverty). The number one because I realised that poverty stops a lot of opportunities and a lot of great things. Poverty is not just the absence of wealth but also a mindset”
“A poor man is not a person that has nothing but a person that does not see what he has. Africans and Ghanaians for that matter, we must begin to use our wealth in the resources, in the culture, and in our thinking, so that we will realise that maximising these things is what makes us wealthy. And I am also happy that we all concluded that one of the things we were going to explore is ‘No Poverty,’ Mr. Kizito stated.
