Work in the Interest of Creatives – Mel Kwesi Davis Urges Creative Arts Agency

In the midst of a renewed national conversation about the role of institutional support in Ghana’s creative economy, Mel Kwesi Davis, Vice President, Administration of the Foundation of Concerned Arts Professionals (FOCAP), has once again sounded a clarion call for the Creative Arts Agency to move beyond rhetoric and begin working meaningfully in the interest of creatives across the country.

At the Advocacy’s press conference on the one year score-card for President Mahama’s administration of the creative Arts sector held on Friday 9th January, 2026, Mel Kwesi Davis advised the current administration of the Creative Arts Agency to work in the interest of Creatives and provide data that can be used to seek funding and further asked the Executive Secretary, Mr Gideon Ayerquaye, to take this exercise very seriously in 2026 instead of organising walks, funerals, Vigils and eating wakye as he did in 2025.

While the Creative Arts Agency was established by Parliament under the Creative Arts Industry Act, 2020 (Act 1048) to provide an institutional framework for the development and management of Ghana’s arts industry, many stakeholders believe the body has struggled to fulfil its mandate since its operationalisation. A wave of recruitment and structural groundwork, such as the posting of new staff, has helped lay the foundation for the Agency’s work, but critics argue that much more needs to be done before the institution truly benefits everyday creatives.

The responsibility of the Creative Arts Agency is to work in the interest of the Creative Industry and not meant to organise funerals, Vigils, health walks and wakye parties, he stated.

Davis’s remarks, which have circulated widely among industry networks, underscore a broader sentiment shared by artists, cultural practitioners, and industry advocates: the Creative Arts Agency must be proactive, transparent and accountable in its approach to supporting Ghana’s creative workforce. According to public posts attributed to him, Davis has encouraged all stakeholders, from policymakers to performers and producers, to coalesce around reforms that prioritise the well-being of creatives and ensure that institutional structures work with artists rather than merely for them.

He has repeatedly emphasised that real, systemic impact rather than symbolic gestures is what Ghana’s creative industry needs. Such impact includes clear programming, data, predictable funding mechanisms, artist support services, mentorship frameworks and collaborative partnerships that move beyond short-term events or surface-level engagements.