THE ADVENTURERS OF THE THE DIASPORA (AiD) invites you to our second event in our discussion series this year on ‘WHY HERITAGE MATTERS’ and to the launch the FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. Please join us online through the livestream or in the live audience at the National Museum on Barnes Road, Accra on Thursday March 29, 2012 at 7:30pm.
AiD has engaged with the Museum Administration and its Board of Directors to create a nonprofit organization called ‘Friends of the National Museum’ to support the work of the Museum and provide a platform for the museum to engage with the artistic community, benefactors and the general public in a positive, economically viable and purposeful way. The museum Chairman Hon. Fritz Baffour and his management team will host us for a night of discussion, music and discourse on Why Heritage Matters. We would also like to introduce key sponsors Airtel Ghana. There will be a presentation by the museum directors on six themes:
1. Understanding the needs of the Museum and how it operates
2. The status of the massive archived collection and what it will take to be able to exhibit them again
3. Presentation of budget for the museum, and fiscal structure needed
4. Locating Local and International partners
5. The future plans of the museum- physical space, programming, PR
6. Select Friends of Museum Advisory board members
As part of our efforts to bring new life to the museum, we are pleased to announce the creation of a internet wifi zone at the museum grounds for the general public to enjoy the museum as a place of gathering, information and art, sponsored by Airtel Ghana. The museum is also being restored to its original glory through painting of the museum’s exterior to the original color scheme, this project is being realized by sponsor CoralPaints. For this month’s AiD Series, we partner with MultiTV to present our series to a television audience.
THIS MONTH: A Discussion on Why Heritage Matters with
Samini is one of Ghana’s biggest musical stars at the present time. His genre of music is a melodious mixture of highlife, dancehall, reggae and hip-hop. He has shared the stage alongside Sean Paul, Akon, Kevin Little, Shaggy, Wayne Wonder, Damien Marley, Bennie Man, Jay-Z,) and Steel Pulse. His third album, Dagaati, was released in 2008. He is also one of Ghana’s sharp artistic minds and will be a panelist in the discussion.
Nuruddin Farah describes his purpose for writing as an attempt “to keep my country alive by writing about it”. His trilogies of novels Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship (1980–1983) and Blood in the Sun (1986–1999) form the core of his work. Farah has garnered acclaim as one of the greatest contemporary writers in the world and hails fro Somalia. Having published many short stories, novels and essays, his prose has earned him, among other accolades, the Premio Cavour in Italy, the Kurt Tuchovsky Prize in Sweden, the Lettre Ulysses Award in Berlin, the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In addition, Farah is a perennial nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, which is one of the only major literary prizes, for which he is eligible, that he has yet to win.
AND!
Music by EBO TAYLOR AND SON
Moderated by Joe Addo and Atukwei Okai
A Fellow and Past President of the Ghana Association of Writers (GAW), Professor Atukwei Okai is the Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers’ Association (PAWA). He has taught at the University of Ghana, Legon, the Institute of African Studies and at the University of Education, Winneba. Okai’s poems have been translated into several languages and have appeared in anthologies and several prominent international journals.
Sponsored by
THEME FOR THE YEAR: REVIVING THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART
This year we are turning our attention to ‘REVIVING THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART’, with a series of conversations between you and our audience and benefactors. The ‘NKOMO series’ is just that, a measured insightful tone for dialog and understanding of how Culture and Heritage should shape Contemporary Africa. Attached is a write up on our Event in November 2011 which kick started this Initiative.
You can follow the activities of the Friends of the National Museum through their weblog at http://friendsofnationalmuseum.tumblr.com/
The venue of our Events this Year will alternate between the Golden Tulip and the National Museum for the rest of the year. Events will be the last Thursday of each Month. We hope that our efforts will make the National Museum of Art a place for lovers of art and culture to gather, socialize and engage with our heritage and culture. We hope to continue to bring together a diverse group of people from different echelons of Ghanaian society who are very passionate about this cause.
ORGANIZED BY AiD team
We hope you will share the evening with us and please spread the word!
Michelle Hammond. CHAIR OF THE BOARD, FRIENDS OF MUSEUM
David Adjaye. BOARD MEMBER EMERITUS, FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM
Joe Addo. COORDINATOR- EMERITUS
www.nubukefoundation.org (member of the board)
www.archiafrika.org (chairman of the board)
www.holcimfoundation.org (‘ambassador’ and jury member africa and middle-east)
World Economic Forum. member committee on sustainable construction. 2009-2010
Tuuli Saarela, ArchiAfrika Ghana www.archiafrika.org
Charlotte Langhorst, Ashley Thaxton, Haley Houseman, Luisa Tartaini, AiD Team
Media Links
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=190643
For more information and live streaming of AiD and past events see our weblog http://adventurersinthediaspora.visualsociety.com/
and join our Facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144987378875799&ref=search
