The Creative Arts Agency is set to host a highlife festival in 2026 as part of its major programming for the year, according to its Acting Executive Secretary, Gideon Aryeequaye.

He said the event forms part of a broader plan to promote highlife music, Ghana’s indigenous sound, on a much larger scale.

Highlife was listed in 2025 as Ghana’s intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, marking 100 years of the genre’s existence.

“This year, we are making way to do highlife festival to promote Ghanaian highlife the way UNESCO is seeing it,” he said.

Gideon Aryeequaye noted that the agency has received significant support from the European Commission, which is backing several of its initiatives.

He explained that 2026 will see the full rollout of projects that could not be held in 2025.

According to him, these include the Creative Arts Festival, Creative Arts Honours, and an arts competition for senior high schools, among other programmes.