WORKSHOP TO ENHANCE WORK TO CRAFTSMEN ENDS IN BOLGA (D/G, Monday, March 2, 2009. PAGE 40)

A DAY’s training workshop on arts and craft to sensitise craftsmen and women to upgrade their skills and knowledge through the adoption of improved technologies to enhance the quality of work has ended in Bolgatanga.
The workshop was also aimed at motivating the participants not only to increase productivity, but also come out with customer-friendly products.
It was attended by selected craftsmen and women as well as cultural officers from the Centre for National Culture throughout the country. The workshop was organised under the European Union (EU) Cultural Initiative Support Programme (CISP).
Since the project was launched in August, 2007, a number of activities had been organised to transform the cultural landscape of the country.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Coordinator of the CISP, Mr Kwesi Gyan-Apenteng, noted that the craft industry was one of the most vibrant sectors, which was often described as the informal economy.
He stated that the crafts played a major part of the broad tourism and hospitality industries that enhanced the image of Ghana internationally.
Mr Gyan-Apenteng, however, said unfortunately Ghanaian crafts and artefacts often failed to compete favourably against those from other countries because of poor finishing and sometimes faulty designs.
Those challenges, he said, had been identified under the project resulting in the deployment of strategies to address the problem.
“The time has come to introduce innovation through new thinking, technologies and international best practices to the development of these crafts for the betterment of the local and national economies,” Mr Gyan-Apenteng stressed.
He bemoaned the disappearance of the local architecture, mostly the round huts systems, and called on the local authorities and some business concerns to realise the potential of the traditional designs.
The leading consultant of the CISP, Mr John Osei Bobie Boahin, expressed concern about the demise of the local architecture.
He noted that in warm climatic situations as the one prevailing in northern Ghana, it was necessary for the people to maximise the use of the straw in their design to minimise the effects of the heat instead of relying on metal roofing sheets.
Mr Boahin, who is also the Head of the Department of Integrated Rural Art Industry at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi , appealed to the government to pay special attention to the arts industry.