The Deputy Executive Director of the National Commission on Culture, Dr. Richardson Commey Fio has asked that agencies in the arts, tourism and culture sectors that have overlapping roles be merged.

During his presentation on Joy FM’s Creative Industry Manifesto series on Showbiz A-Z, Fio noted that there are too many agencies under the umbrella of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture that perform the same or similar functions.

According to him, such institutions need to be consolidated into one so they could effectively discharge their tasks.

“The National Folklore Board is researching and collecting art forms. The National Commission on Culture does same. Some aspect of what the National Theatre does is also about the same thing. They do Anansegro. It’s folklore. They do music and a lot of them are from traditional musical elements," he told the host Kwame Dadzie.

He also questioned the difference between the research the National Symphony Orchestra does on indigenous Ghanaian music and that of the National Folklore Board.

“All these are separated as agencies and they seem to be working in silos which makes it very difficult for us,” he said.

Dr. Fio added that because of this, there is difficulty in getting proper data for the culture and creative industries. 

“That is why till today we are unable to convince ourselves even as industry persons as to what economic value we can place on ourselves and to tell the politicians that this is how much we can make for you if you should invest in us. Because even if we try on our own to collect some form of data, they are segregated and they in some silos somewhere. It makes putting these data together very difficult," he said. 

He, therefore, suggested that there should be a policy that will keep the Culture and Creative Industries well organised. 

Highlighting the duplication of roles among the agencies, he further made reference to the similarities between the functions of the Creative Arts Agency and the Creative Arts Directorate at the National Commission on Culture.

He added that as the government plans on investing in getting regional offices for the Creative Arts Agency, it is worthy to note that the National Commission on Culture which is so many years older than the agency is still struggling to get offices in the various regions.

Dr. Fio also intimated that instead of allowing every agency under the ministry to have their own funds, there could be a general fund for the CCIs to caters to all the sub-fields. 

The CREATIVE INDUSTRY MANIFESTO is a series on Joy FMs' 'Showbiz A-Z that brings together stakeholders of the creative industry to proffer ideas on their various fields to the political parties as they prepare to launch their various manifestos.

Watch the full episode of the CREATIVE INDUSTRY MANIFESTO on Showbiz A-Z below: