Five organisations, institutions and groups have been given a total grant of GH¢63,547.00 by the Ghana Cultural Fund (GCF) for a number of cultural and educational projects that would help promote and develop the arts in the country.

The groups are the Noyam African Dance Institute, Dwenesie Music Institute, Creative Storm Networks, Youth Home Cultural Group and the Local Dimension Palm Wine Highlife Band.

This follows recommendations to the board of GCF by a peer review committee that vetted over 60 applications from diverse groups and institutions that were received and processed by the Institute for Music and Development – administrators of the fund.

The applications, which were from several parts of the country, ranged from projects relating to music, literature, film, painting, sculpture, bead-making, theatre, dance, multi-cultural festivals, conferences, workshops, research, publishing, tourism to education.

Activities that would be undertaken by the five groups include the establishment of a pre-tertiary music institution, creation of a major choreographic work to sensitise rural Ghanaians on how to achieve some of the Millennium Development Goals and a film on Ghanaian highlife.

In 2007, the GCF granted a total of GH¢62,261.43 for a number of culture-related projects and activities including music and dance workshops, creation of pottery/hut decoration in Sirigu (Upper East Region) and interactive theatre to sensitise selected communities on HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy.

So far the Ghana Cultural Fund has disbursed a total of GH¢125,808.43 to ten organisations, institutions and groups for varied activities and ventures in several parts of the country as part of DANIDA’s cultural and development strategy for Ghana.

Members of the GCF board are Prof. Irene Odotei, Director, Historical Society of Ghana, Mrs. Frances Ademola, Director, The Loom Gallery, Prof. John Collins, former head of Music Department, University of Ghana, Legon, Seth Dei, businessman and largest art collector in Ghana, Mrs. Lillian Bruce-Lyle, Chief Director, Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture and H.E. Bjork Pedersen, Danish Ambassador to Ghana.

The Ghana Cultural Fund is governed by a framework between the Royal Danish Embassy in Ghana and the Danish Centre for Culture and Development in Denmark. It has a total budget of GH¢5.65 million and is scheduled to run from 2007 to 2009.

Objectives of the fund include the strengthening of intercultural relations, mutual understanding and promotion of democratic values among the people of Ghana through intercultural expressions and interactions.

It is also to foster Ghanaian/Danish collaborations through the contemporary arts and the preservation of our shared cultural heritage