friends of the national museum accra

ArchiAfrika Accra/Adventurers in Diaspora and Holcim Awards for...

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 11:51:00 -0100

ArchiAfrika Accra/Adventurers in Diaspora

and

Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction

present

Global Holcim Awards Gold winner 2012
at the BRANCHE LOUNGE, GOLDEN TULIP HOTEL ACCRA
Friday, December 21st 2012 at 7:30 pm

Diébédo Francis Kéré received the Global Holcim Awards Gold 2012 from more than 6000 competition entries from all over the world for his secondary school in the village of Gando in Burkina Faso. The project was praised for its approach to using traditional building materials and technologies that also place great emphasis on actively involving the local population in the construction process. Come out to hear Diébédo Francis Kéré lecture about this project and his other works, which adapt a sustainable and contextual approach to design and construction.

Tune in to our livestream!
http://www.ustream.tv/user/adventuresdiaspora

Log on to our Facebook page to post questions for Francis Kéré during the event!
http://www.facebook.com/AdventurersInTheDiaspora

For more information visit our website at

http://adventurersinthediaspora.visualsociety.com/

Friends of the Museum (FoM) and AiD support the National Science Museum

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:42:28 -0100

Dear Friends,

Friends of the National Museum and AiD held a fundraising concert at the amphitheater of the National Science Museum on Friday the 26^th of October 2012. The aim of the fundraiser was to provide AV equipment for to enable films to be screened for children at the Science Museum. Seasoned veteran folkloric musicians such as Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, and Ben Brako were at hand to entertain the audience they were backed by Kwame Yeboah’s band. Kwame Yeboah and Irene Logan went through renditions of classic folkloric tunes with the use of traditional instruments such as the flute by Sammy Nukpese and as well as slam poetry recitals. So electrifying were the performances that the patrons could not help dancing all evening.

Fundraising Concert Celebrating Folkloric Music

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 07:12:07 +0000

Dear Friends,

THE ADVENTURERS IN THE DIASPORA (AiD) and Friends of the Museuminvite you to the seventh installment in its discussion series where we will discuss and enjoy folkloric music! This event will be a fundraiser for the Museum of Science and Technology and the National Museum… so come and support a great cause! We are having a very active October with this being our third event but we hope to see you there! Please note that this event will take place at the Museum of Science and not our usual venue (Golden Tulip).

THIS MONTH: Reviving Ghana’s Folkloric Musical Tradition

hosted by Amechi Ndili (CEO Golden Tulip West Africa and AA Accra Board member) with Super Group of stars: Ebo Tayor (guitar), Kwame Yeboah, Pat Thomas, Ben Brako Irene Logan, Tetteh Pappoh (trumpet), George Amissah (alto sax), Joe (drums), Edmund Mensah (trumpet), Bessa Simon (keyboards), Shebo (bass). Special guest of honor will be Hon. Fritz Baffour, Minister of Information and Chairman of GMMB.

at the Museum of Science and Technology Amphitheatre

Barnes Road, Ridge - Accra

Friday, October 26th 2012 at 6:00 pm

Music plays an enormous part of Ghana’s heritage and cultural identity. Our Folkloric musical tradition precedes popular Ghanaian music such as highlife, which has incorporated aspects of this unique style. It is an essential and beloved part of Ghana’s musical history and influence. However, with the ascent of foreign musical aesthetic and now contemporary Hip-life music here in Ghana, this genre has increasingly become less popular. REVIVING GHANA’S FOLKLORIC MUSICAL TRADITION is an initiative as part of AiD’s ‘NKOMO’ SERIES.

We have assembled a ‘Super Group’ of musicians and intellectuals who will both perform and discuss this heritage. The idea for this event was inspired by ADOM FM radio station, which promotes this once mainstream genre of music. We want to celebrate all individuals and organisations who are dedicated to keeping our traditions alive and reinterpreted for contemporary use and part of our national development agenda.

This month’s event is also a fundraiser for both the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART, and NATIONAL SCIENCE MUSEUM. Proceeds from this event will be used to buy AV equipment, which will be used to screen science related films at the Science Museum and also our continued support of the National Museum of Art. Updates of work done by Friends of the museum are as follows;

1. AIRTEL free Wi-Fi, up and running.
2. Exterior painting of National Museum by Coral paints completed.
3. New grassing of National Museum by Ghana Commercial Bank and Chase Petroleum completed.
4. Maintenance of grass, through provision of water tanks by POLYTANK currently underway.
5. Completion of landscape sprinkler system will be funded by current fundraiser.

Special Guest Musicians: Ebo Taylor (guitar), Kwame Yeboah, Pat Thomas, Ben Brako, Irene Logan, Tetteh Pappoe (trumpet), George Amissah (alto sax), Joe (drums), Edmund Mensah (trumpet), Bessa Simon(keyboards), Shebo (bass).

Revitalizing the National Musuem

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:22:54 +0000

Dear Friends of the Museum,

As an update on initiatives undertaken by Friends of the National Museum and Adventurers in the Diaspora to revitalize the National Museum, we are pleased to report that extensive work has been done to bring the museum up to an aesthetically acceptable standard.

Under the sponsorship of Ghana Commercial Bank, the lawn of the National Museum were grassed and pipes were laid for a sprinkler system. Other projects undertaken in 2012 include the provision of free wireless service for the public by Airtel Ghana Limited, painting of the the museum building through sponsorship of Coral Paints and donation of water storage tanks for irrigation by PolyTank Ghana Limited.

Soft Landscaping at the National Arts Museum - Ghana Commercial Bank

Pipe-work for Proposed Sprinkler System

National Arts Museum Painting Project – Coral Paints

Storage Tanks donated by Poly Tank

AiD on June 27th: FILM AND CULTURE

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:24:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

THE ADVENTURERS IN THE DIASPORA (AiD) and Golden Tulip Hotel Accra invite you to our fifth event in our series this year and the topic is “Film and Culture”. This month, we are at the Golden Tulip Hotel Branch Lounge on Wednesday June 27, 2012 at 7:30pm.

THIS MONTH: Film and Culture

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 7:30pm

What do our films tell us about our culture? How can we harness the power of film to reconnect to a sense of culture, identity and self? How do great films successfully capture truths about our culture; can films push us towards higher and even more powerful ideals? Film and theatre may be an extension of the oral tradition and is a way we can communicate our history to the world. A distinguished panel will discuss the genre of contemporary African film and highlight some of our successes: Sinking Sands, Grass Between My Lips, I sing of a well, Love Brewed In An African Pot, Heritage Africa.

The AiD discussion featuring panelists from the Ghanaian and Diaspora film and television industry, will be moderated by Ben M Imoro; Writer/Producer/Director and President of African Indigenous Film Union of Ghana.

On the panel:

Akosua Busia

A film actress who lives in Los Angeles and Accra. Her film roles include a notable performance as Bessie in a 1986 film adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, Nettie in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985), as Jewel in John Singleton’s Rosewood (1997) and as Patience in Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun (2003). She has also appeared on television in the series ER.

Ama K. Abebrese

A British television presenter, producer and actress of Ghanaian origin. In 2011 she won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in Sinking Sands. Abebrese started her career in TV on Challenge Anneka BBC2’s youth show Pass da Mic and the English File educational series. Abebrese was a regular TV presenter on One Touch, On The Sofa, where guests she has interviewed range from Akon to Ziggy Marley.

Abena Busia

A Professor who teaches courses in African American and African Diaspora literature. Serves on the advisory board of the Ghana Education Project and the board of the African Women’s Development Fund. A co-director of Women Writing Africa Project, co-editor of Women Writing Africa: West Africa and the Sahel(2005). The author of Theorizing Black Feminisms(1993), Testimonies of Exile, as well as many articles and book chapters.

AND with MUSIC BY: IRENE LOGAN

A contemporary rhythm, blues and pop singer, with influences from Western genres.Irene was discovered through Charterhouse’s Stars of the Future pop contest where she emerged the winner and was declared Ghana’s International Music Star. She has a debut video with Jane featuring the hit single, Heat it up, featuring Nana Tuffour aka NeezBuck while their Unveiled album also features Amandzeba Nat Brew, Blu3 (Uganda) and Wutah. Some of her songs include Odo kai, Baby, Ding dong, Girl power, Don’t wanna be lonely, Don’t give up, Rivers, Always, etc.

Review ghanaweb: Where The Bead Speaks

Wed, 09 May 2012 07:53:00 +0000

The April edition of the Adventurers in the Diaspora (AiD) series was simply a refreshing showcase of a lifestyle around one of Ghana’s must beautiful and traditional ornaments - beads. The third event in the discussion series this year took place at the Golden Tulip Hotel Branche Lounge under the theme, ‘Where the Bead Speaks’.

Beads are a fascinating and important part of Ghanaian culture and heritage; they are an expression of the creativity and aesthetic of our people. In line AiD’s theme for the year which creates a platform for the revival of national heritage at the National Museum, the session was co-organized by the Foundation for Contemporary Art and UNESCO who are working to document the Ghana’s bead making industry.

The participants, who largely came prepared with one beaded item or two, discovered a fascinating history of the beads in Ghana and the role of beads in our society through discussions as well as the launch of a full color 106-page book named, ‘Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks’. The book which combines poetic reflections on the bead in our society by renowned African woman writer, Ama Ata Aidoo and an essay by professor of African Studies at University of Ghana, Esi Sutherland-Addy. The book design was coordinated by bead expert Kati Torda.

The exciting AiD session also witnessed exciting musical performances by singer Irene Logan and the legendary Ebo Taylor.

Text by Ameyaw Debrah

Photo credits: Francis Kokoroko

via ghanaweb.com

AiD on April 26th: "Where The Bead Speaks"

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:50:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

THE ADVENTURERS IN THE DIASPORA (AiD) invites you to our third event in the discussion series this year entitled ‘WHERE THE BEAD SPEAKS’. Please join us online through the live stream or in the live audience at the Golden Tulip Hotel Branche Lounge on Thursday April 26, 2012 at 7:30pm.

Beads are a fascinating and important part of our culture and heritage; they are an expression of the creativity and aesthetic of our people. In line with the theme for the year which creates a platform for the revival of national heritage at the National Museum, this AiD is co-organized by theFoundation for Contemporary Art and UNESCO who are working to document the Ghana’s bead making industry.

Discover a fascinating history of the beads in Ghana and the role of beads in our society. We will launch a full color 106 page book named ‘GHANA: WHERE THE BEAD SPEAKS’ which combines poetic reflections on the bead in our society by the most famous African woman writer, Ama Ata Aidoo and an essay by professor of African Studies at University of Ghana, Esi Sutherland-Addy. The book design was coordinated by bead expert Kati Torda.

Click the link for the live stream if you can’t make it http://www.ustream.tv/channel/adventures-in-the-diaspora

THIS MONTH: Book Launch ‘Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks’

Ama Ata Aidoo is one of Ghana’s most celebrated authors and playwrights. Aidoo’s works of fiction deal with the tension between Western and African world views. Many of her protagonists are women who defy stereotypical women’s roles. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa). Ms. Ata Aidoo is one of our cultural treasures

Esi Sutherland Addy is Senior Research Fellow and Head of Language, Literature and Drama Section at Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana Legon. She has an illustrious international career as a visiting lecturer at universities in the USA, France and UK and serves on many committees focusing on literature, art and gender. As an educator, she believes that “creativity is an impetus for Ghana to achieve a modern nationhood.. and cannot be taken for granted.”

When Kati Torda first came to Ghana from Hungary in 1979 as the wife of a Ghanaian graduate she was presented with bead necklaces by her in-laws as their way of welcoming her. Kati realized that beads were a bridge between the culture from which she came and the one in which she was now living. A member of the Ghana Bead Society, which she helped found, says: “Kati’s approach was not forceful. She was welcomed by local designers. She has put forth an evolution in beadwork which is appreciated.” Kati is the owner of Sun Trade Limited in Asylum Down.

Music by Irene and Ebo Taylor

Irene Logan represents a new age in Ghanaian music. She is influenced by contemporary rhythm and blues and pop singers from Western genres, including music by Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, K-Ci and Jojo among others. Irene first stepped in front of the microphone at 3. At age 5, she performed at the National Theatre. Irene was discovered through Charterhouse’s Stars of the Future pop contest where she emerged the winner and declared Ghana’s International Music Star.

Ebo Taylor is a legend of West African music, with a style that ranges from jazz to highlife to Afrobeat. He is considered as a major and influential musical force. The BBC recently stated that if Ebo Taylor’s sounds as good playing live as he does on the record, the septuagenarian could at last win the following he deserves. Come and find out!

Moderated by Joe Addo and Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah (African Women’s Development Fund, Maksi Clothing)

Sponsored by

THEME FOR 2012: 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 all and our audience and benefactors. The ‘NKOMO series’ is just that, a measured insightful tone for dialogue and understanding of how Culture and Heritage should shape Contemporary Africa. If you missed the last AiD which launched the Friends of the Museum at the National Museum in March, we hope you find the time to visit soon. The Friends of the Museum and Airtel have sponsored a wifi zone on the grounds of the National Museum so that lovers of art and culture can gather, socialize, engage and BROWSE for free! Coral Paints has also given a fresh coat of paint to the museum exterior.

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 vibrant place to 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. If you wish to join the Friends of the Museum, please contact tuuli.saarela@gmail.com You can find our blog at http://friendsofnationalmuseum.tumblr.com/

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

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

AiD on March 29th: WHY HERITAGE MATTERS

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:12:00 +0000

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

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

AiD on March 8th 2012

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:37:00 -0100

THE ADVENTURERS OF THE THE DIASPORA (AiD) would be honored to have you as a participant in our 2012 Salon, A discussion Series dedicated to the role of Creativity in Our national development Agenda. This Salon was initiated in 2011 by Golden Tulip West Africa and myself, with great support from others, and became another ‘voice’ in the discourse on Creativity and Culture.

For this month’s AiD Series, we partner with MultiTV to present our series to a live television audience. You are welcome to join us at home, online or in the live audience at Golden Tulip Hotel on Thursday March 8, 2012 at 7:30pm. You can watch the live stream on MultiTV at http://multitvworld.com/streams/

The monthly ‘AiD’ Series held at the Golden Tulip Hotel began in September 2010 as a forum for critical discussion on the role of creativity and design in Ghana’s development. On one level it seeks to create awareness on the work being done in the arts, business, agriculture and architecture sector and on the next, nurture a social network in which collaboration can be realized.

Audience participation and interest continues to grow at these monthly events at the Golden Tulip, reaching over 200 participants at our last ‘Revitalizing the National Museum’ discussion held in November 2011.

(all photos from the event by Kofi Blankson Ocansey)

THIS MONTH: The Role of Design in Culture

David Adjaye is a celebrated Ghanaian architect residing in London. Recent works include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the Nobel Peace Centre in Osloand the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management completed in 2010. On April 15, 2009, he was selected in a competition to design the $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., planned to open in 2015. His design features a crown motif from Yoruban sculpture.

Amaechi Ndili is the CEO of Golden Tulip West Africa and owner of Lionstone Group which owns over 1,000 hotel rooms across West Africa, with leading hotels in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, Lagos and Portharcourt, Nigeria. In 2007 Amaechi was appointed by the Governor of Delta State of Nigeria to the Vision 2020 Committee of the State, and Chaired the Infrastructure and Housing Sub-Committees of that body. Amaechi & Njide Ndili Family Foundation, founded in 2010 sponsors a series of educational and cultural events around Africa that aim to provide for a platform for the economic, social and cultural integration of Africa. Amaechi Ndili is the co-creator of the Adventurers in the Diaspora salon series and the main sponsor and initiator.

Music by Ebo Taylor and son

Ebo Taylor is 74 years old, and one of the great under-acknowledged heroes of West African music, who is still releasing new records. Ebo’s early work was featured on the excellent Soundway compilation Ghana Special in 1977. He certainly played an important role in Ghana’s musical history, with a style that ranged from jazz to highlife to Afrobeat. He should be considered as a major and influential music force. After all, Usher used a sample from Taylor’s Heaven on his She Don’t Know track, and as his music proves, the singer, composer and arranger is still in excellent form. The BBC recently stated that if Ebo Taylor’s sounds as good playing live as he does on the record, the septuagenarian could at last win the following he deserves. It’s never too late.

THEME FOR THE YEAR: REVIVING THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART

Our first Event of the Year will be Thursday March 8th, at the Golden Tulip, and then we will alternate with The National Museum for the rest of the year. Events will be the last Thursday of each Month. The inaugural series was very successful in bringing together a diverse group of people from different echelons of Ghanaian society who are very passionate about this cause.

The second Event, at the museum, will launch the FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM and formally engage with Museum Administration and Board of Directors, whose Chairman Hon. Fritz Baffour will be our Host.

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

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

AFRIKADAA Le Magazine

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:07:21 -0100

Visit the Afrikadaa website and take a look at “AFRIKADAA - Le Magazine” which is published by Carole Diop and Pasacale Obolo. The francophone magazine focuses on the under-explored African Design and Art Scene. You can page through the categories Art Talk, Architecture and Design as well as Exhibition Reviews and Interviews. Especially the first issue is a MUST for followers of the ghanaian art and culture scene as….

AFRIKADAA has interviewed the famous ghanaian architect David Adjaye and..

Joe Addo, architect, CEO of Constructs LLC, organizer of AiD.

NEW WEBSITE: GHANA MUSEUMS & MONUMENTS BOARD

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:37:00 -0100

Visit http://www.ghanamuseums.org/ and get an overview of Ghana’s museums and monuments. You will find information about their history and photo galleries to browse through. Especially the heading “News & Events” you shouldn’t miss!

AiD ABOUT A LIVING NATIONAL MUSEUM

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:02:00 -0100

Museums, not mausoleums!

by Mae-ling Jovenes Lokko

Ghanaian architect Joe Addo founded the Ai-D series in September 2010 as a subset initiative of ArchiAfrika, a non-governmental organization promoting African design and urbanism, for which he serves as chairman. Initially Ai-D served as a platform to discuss architecture and the impact and work of Ghanaian architects. By its fourth discussion, the nature of architectural discourse and the interest of a growing audience encouraged its organizers to broaden the scope and themes of the series beyond architecture.

Almost a year after its inception, it is fitting that the Ai-D Salon turns its attention to arguably Ghana’s most important cultural platform, the National Museum of Arts.

The aim of the discussion was to firstly create awareness about the National Museum itself and secondly address the need to make this

institution the collective ‘heart and soul’ of many individual efforts happening within a growing, dynamic yet disjointed arts scene. The carefully-assembled panel was composed of three key members from the Ghana Monuments and Museums Board and the Ghanaian government, two of Ghana’s most prominent private art collectors, a worldrenowned Ghana-based artist and a prominent Ghanaian architect based overseas. In bringing their perspectives as insideroutsider, private-public, local global and the greys in-between, each expressed dire reasons for the museum’s revitalization and more importantly, hinted at the ways in which this reshaping might manifest. The discussion was moderated by Joe Addo and Nat Amarteifio whose work in their respective fields have been underlined by an emphasis on the role of culture and contex in Ghana’s development. David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates began the evening’s discussion by recounting his morning visit to the National Museum and its extensive collection of 25, 000 prized objects. Since the Museum’s founding in 1924, the museum has amassed an impressive collection of objects from Ghana and Africa, of which only one-sixth of this collection is actually on display. For Adjaye, he value and expanse of what he saw hidden in storage and under dusty cloths embodied a rare treasure, a collection that overshadowed even that of the highly anticipated National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington DC for which his firm won the design competition in 2009. In linking this collection to the wider African Diaspora and the world, Kofi Setordji, the Ghanaian artist and sculptor posited that Ghanaians and Africans needed to look no further than the museum to define Ghana’s point of reference to the world. “The collection in our National Museum is the first place in which slavery as a form of globalization was recorded,” describes Kofi Setordji. A few of these objects including a fourteenth century metal sculpture of a chief’s court, a 4-foot elephant’s ivory tusk and various paintings depicting iconic Ghanaian scenes and styles were on-display as testimony to the variety and quality of the their collection. On March 5, 1957, the National Museum itself was founded in line with Nkrumah’s vision of

unity—one that constructed both a national and pan-African identity. Hon. Fritz Baffour, the chairman of the Museum Board, narrated a few examples of how the museum’s ethnographic and archaeological objects, paintings, sculptures, textiles and various instruments within the Museum’s collection pertain to unique stories of the Ga, Fante, Ashanti and various ethnic groups within Ghana. However much as these objects remain archives and evidence of our histories, each of the panelists stressed the need for the continuation of preservation and conversation to continue today. The Ghana Monuments and Museums Board (GMMB) Director, Mr. Acheampong, attested that the last time something was added to the collection at the National Museum was in 1989. As a consequence, the change and developments within our culture and identity remain unrecorded and unarticulated to us. Moreover Seth Dei advocates this lapse in ournational narrative as partly due to a political culture that sees history as beginning with each new political citing and not as a part of continuum. “The Ghana we have is something that reached its peak in the 10th century”, describes Hon. J.S Annan, “we took the name and we tried create a new reality. This is something that is still in progress. But how do we continue to co-create a Ghana?”

For Frances Ademola, Ghana’s revered owner of Ghana’s first art gallery The Loom,this practice of co-creation begins with the idea of creating “museums and not mausoleums”. Recounting her visit to the National Museum as a ‘spy’ she places the responsibility squarely in the hands of the museum’s personnel who serve as front-liners, interacting and engaging with the museum’s visitors and children on a daily basis. Hon J. S. Annan responds to this challenge with the task of finding and instilling passion once again in those that safeguard our heritage. “We must nurture and support the passion of the curator; those people who cant stop wishing to inspire you to different heights, or get into the soul of the exhibition. In Ghana this form of passion you find with the creator of the art expires once the artist has exhibited their work. It is then left there and their works gather dust,” he says. “Beyond a building is more than its structure, we need to educate people about the ideas, practices and stories about that place,” responds Fritz Baffour. Through his experience from working on the Museum’s Board, he affirms that Ghana has a lot trained people who are not involved with the museum itself. A nostalgic Mr. Dei described the period in1960s filled with competent scholars who wrote about these collections and whose works were subsequently widely read and studied by others, no longer exists. Therefore a gaping hole exists where these ‘middlemen’ once stood; ensuing a fragmented creative industry and public. As Ghana’s largest collector of Ghanaian contemporary art, Mr. Dei, hopes to culminate his

role as co-creator one day by donating a private collection to a Museum of Modern Ghanaian Art. In the

spirit of community participation, Seth urged the audience to see art collection as a small step in ‘co-creating’ while Kofi Setordji encouraged individuals to volunteer an hour a week to work at the National Museum.

The follow-up initiative to the Ai-Diaspora discussion is another program to be hosted at the National Museum of Arts at which the ‘Friends of the Museum’ will be launched. Through this, goals such as the

renovation and extension of the museum will be realized as well as the introduction of programs that encourage community-participation and interaction within and beyond the walls of the museum. Perhaps as a Seth Dei points out, this will be a step in realizing that museums and the act of co-creating occurs not only in buildings, but in everything we do.

KOFI ANNAN VISITS THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN ACCRA

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:01:00 -0100

On August 23, 2011 Mr Kofi Annan and his wife visited the National Museum of Ghana.

They were guided through the exhibition hall and got a special tour to the depot with its 25.000 objects.