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The 2019 edition of the National Festival for Arts and Culture (NAFAC) will on Friday, November 8, open at the Jubilee Park in the Eastern regional capital, Koforidua.

Dubbed “Empowering the Youth through Culture, Tourism and Creative Arts for Employment and Wealth Creation,” it forms part of the effort to achieve the objective of the National Commission on Culture of enhancing Ghanaian cultural life.

NAFAC 2019 will bring together young people across the country to interact and share ideas on the economic and socio-cultural potentials in the cultural and creative industry, which also includes a “National Durbar of Chiefs, Regional Days,” which are meant for the promotion of cultural interactions and inter-ethnic understanding.

Others are “Women and Children’s Day”, “Youth Day”, “Colloquium”, “Miss NAFAC Pageant”, Nights of Music, Dance and Drama from groups such as the Ghana Dance Ensemble, Ghana Concert Party Union, Musicians Union of Ghana and diverse exhibitions.

NAFAC 2019 positions culture as critical driving force towards the economic and socio-cultural fortunes of Ghana.

It is therefore important that governments, present and the future, will recognise and acknowledge the unique contributions of the festival and offer it the fullest support.

It also aims at developing cultural programmes to contribute to the nation’s human development and material progress through heritage preservation, conservation, promotion and the use of traditional and modern arts and crafts to create wealth and alleviate poverty especially among the youth. This year’s edition positions culture as critical driving force towards the economic and socio-cultural fortunes of Ghana.

It is therefore important that governments, present and the future, will recognise and acknowledge the unique contributions of the festival and offer it the fullest support.

Indeed, it will be ideal for NAFAC to become a statutory festival which will ensure that funds are set aside biennially to celebrate it just as it is done to other state events like Farmer’s Day and Independence Day celebrations.

Global statistics of the cultural industry show that it contributes substantially to the respective economies of the countries that formulate better policies for its growth while implementing policies effectively and efficiently.

One major policy achievement by Ghana is the establishment of public or state agencies, such as the National Commission on Culture by PNDC Law 238 to manage culture and the arts from a holistic perspective, the cultural life of the country. NAFAC 2019 ends on Friday, November 15, 2019.