Parliament has passed the Creative Arts Bill into law after successfully going through all the various stages on the floor of the House.
With the passage, the government now has the power and authority to help give a strong backing to institute the creative arts fund to be accessed by stakeholders of the arts industry.
The Creative Arts Bill will also serve as a framework to regulate the country’s creative economy, including music, film, advertising, PR, architecture, fashion and tourism, among other related sectors.
It comes a year after Nana Akufo-Addo announced in his state of the nation address that the government was finalizing the bill.
Akufo-Addo’s statement was reinforced by Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng Gyasi, when she promised to get the bill passed before the end of her tenure.
“For me, it’s very critical. If I don’t do anything at all between now and the end of the year, I will at least ensure that the bill is passed into law. It is a promise and I’m going to work hard at it”.
The Minister expressed that she was excited that finally the bill has been passed and said
“So today I am happy to announce that we have passed the Creative Arts Industry Bill and very soon it will be assented to by the President”.
She added that the Creative Arts Agency which will be established will also ensure that all the various issues that confront the industry are addressed.
“We know that from next year, 2021, the Agency is going to be set up; we will have adequate funding from the budget, other sources”.
This funding, she explained, will be used to support industry practitioners to boost their activities.
“The establishment of the Creative Arts Fund is very significant because we know that that is one of the major challenges of the industry,” Mrs Oteng-Gyasi added.
Earlier speaking on Showbiz A-Z, Creative Arts Council President, Mark Okraku Mantey had said the fund will help solve many of the problems industry players have highlighted.
“…it is because we do not have enough monies in our coffers, the Ministry gets the lowest budget throughout the year. So that is why we must get the art fund so that we can get seed money to start the development.”
This happening does not come as a surprise as Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi in October disclosed that President Nana Akufo-Addo directed that there should be a true sense of urgency on the part of Parliament and all relevant stakeholders in passing the Creative Arts Bill into law.
She said the president hopes the Bill becomes law before the end of tenure of the current Parliament.
The Minister said President Akufo-Addo gave the directive because the Creative Arts Bill when passed into law, would provide the legal and institutional framework to promote the Creative Arts industry and be the basis of establishing the Creative Arts Fund to provide financial succor for the sector.
Hon Oteng Gyasi, explained that a lot of work was being done by government behind the scenes to ensure the Bill gets passed.
“Currently the Bill has gone for gazetting. We have already sent it to Cabinet and all the amendments have been done. Then it went to the Attorney General and from there it has been submitted for gazetting. The gazetting period takes 14 days and I think it is left with just a few days to reach the 14 days then it goes back to Parliament”.
