The First ever African Choral Festival which comes off in Accra and Cape Coast on the 10th and 11th of March, 2012 respectively is gradually shaping up. The event which is under the theme ’’Celebrating Culture through Choral Music’’ is slated for March 9-13, 2012 and will take place in the National Theatre in Accra and the Cape Coast Castle in the Central Region. It is the first of its kind and already started generating huge interest and enthusiasm from both domestic and International choral groups. Invited choral groups from the United States of America, Korea, and Nigeria have so far confirmed their participation. The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) is expecting other choral groups from Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Benin. Preceding the March event will be the regional and the National Choral events to select the best three Ghanaian Choral groups to represent Ghana at the festival. The competitive regional choral festivals will select the best choirs from each region after which they will converge in Accra for the National Choral Gala where the best three will be chosen to represent Ghana. Prizes will be awarded to the best three in each region. An amount of 1000, 500, and 250 Ghana cedis will be awarded to the first, second and third winners respectively. Interested groups must however contact the regional GTA offices to register for the competition. GTA is using the Choral Festival to provide enormous opportunities especially for private sector operators in the industry and to create a vehicle to market Ghana’s tourism potential to the outside world. By this the Authority is also creating a vehicle to market the nation’s tourism potential to the outside world. The event is also expected to bring in foreign exchange revenue since the international choral groups are expected to pay their own accommodation and other bills. The regional events begin on Jan 10-28. The National event will be held in February 11 2012. SOURCE: