Fatou Dem
The Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hamat N.K. Bah, last Friday signed the Regulation on the National Endowment Fund for Art and Culture for the first time in The Gambia.
The signing came on the heels of a report on a survey
conducted on the condition of female artistes in The Gambia with a series of
training which led to one hundred artistes being certified at the National
Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC).
The female artistes and cultural professionals underwent
training in such aspects as copyright, networking, and marketing of cultural
goods held in December 2022.
The NCAC on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Aschberg project titled: Improving the Status
and Condition of Female Artistes, has been working with artistes since July
2022.
The project was within the framework of the 2021 Call for
Projects, which the NCAC submitted and which project was selected by
theEvaluation Committee in May 2022.
In his remarks on the occasion, Minister Bah said: "The
regulation is a great milestone in the annals of arts and culture funding in
The Gambia, and it shows the readiness of the Government to support artistes
for the sake of jobs, economic upliftment and the production of works to
reflect Gambian values and norms.
The tourism minister pointed out that the Regulation, which
has been signed, would be Gazetted, adding that he would go to Cabinet and
engage the National Assembly to get the funds needed to support and beef up the
Fund.
"I believe that Gambian artistes can do better than
artistes in other countries when they get the needed funding support," Mr
Bah added.
For his part, NCAC's Director General Hassoum Ceesay
recalled that for close to two decades, they had never been able to
operationalise the National Endowment Fund for lack of Regulation. "Now,
it is all here," he stated pleasingly.
DG Ceesay said the regulation would help Gambian artistes to
get regular funding for their programs as well as improve their economic and
social status.
He thanked the tourism minister for always reminding them of
great artistes and how they could uplift the status of artistes of the country.
Maimuna Sidibeh, the secretary general of the National
Commission for UNESCO, emphasised the importance of creative industries and the
support they need.
She said artists faced challenges such as a lack of enabling
environment hence found it necessary to come up with such an initiative for
support.
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