BBC’s arts show, The Arts Hour Tour will on Saturday, September 28, put the spotlight on Ghana’s creative industry.
Nikki Bedi, host of the show and its production team were in Ghana to record a social edition at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences on Monday.
The special edition of The Arts Hour Tour is under the theme ‘The Year of Return’ as Ghana is this year marking exactly 400 years since the first black slaves landed in Jamestown Virginia in the US.
Nikki Bedi was joined on stage by actress Lydia Forson, artist Kwame Akoto Bamfo, rapper M.anifest, singer Cina Soul and comedian DKB.
They discussed issues surrounding the ‘The Year of Return’ theme, slavery, how Africans can reorganise themselves to get back on track.
DKB spoke at length about how thriving the Ghanaian comedy industry has been over the years. He also highlighted some of the challenges comedians are facing in the country.
“Financially the industry is lacking, there is the need to find investors to invest in the craft because there is an uprise of immense comedic talent in the country. Also the issue about venue; this is a huge problem for the comedy industry. The owners of the venues would rather host music shows than host a comedy show simply because of the profits a music concert will fetch [which] meanwhile has the same potential music has. So those that give us venues, we are very grateful for the belief,” DKB said.
The Arts Hour on Tour is a monthly arts show exploring arts and culture in major cities across the world. The show features filmmakers, authors, visual artists and critics in their fields.