By Desmond Tunde Coker
The Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs has on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, concluded a two-day strategic planning symposium aimed at finding ways to improve Creative Arts in Sierra Leone.
The two-day symposium which was themed: “Strength in Diversity to Foster Social Cohesion, Peace, and Stability”, brought together key players in the Creative Arts industry in Sierra Leone at the Family Kingdom in Freetown.
In her opening statement, the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Nabeela Tunis, said that the symposium was held to create roadmap and proffer new ways to boost the Creative Arts sector in the country.
“This symposium is to create a strategy that will bring back our lost glory as created by the likes of Dr. Julius Spencer, Desmond Finney, and Raymond de’Souza George,” she said. She said that these individuals have supported the Arts industry to thrive, adding that during the engagement they will tap into their knowledge and experience that will be incorporated into the industry.
In his presentation, the Director of Tourism, Foday Jalloh said creative arts keeps reminding people about their culture.
He said that they have made some interventions to develop and promote the sector, adding that they have reviewed the obsolete Monument and Relics Act to the status of a “National Heritage Bill”; reviewed the 2014 Cultural Policy; formulated an entertainment policy; ratified all UNESCO Conventions and signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with other countries.
Dr. Julius Spencer said, “Creative Arts is the cycle of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that uses creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs.”
He cited that the UNESCO declaration in Mexico City in 1982 gives a wider understanding of nations culture, adding that culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group.
Dr. Spencer maintained that the creative arts would foster a development dimension, offering new opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy.