The Department of Music and Dance at the Faculty of Arts, University of Cape Coast (UCC), in collaboration with the Teaching Artists Institute (TAI), is set to establish an Art Resilience Centre aimed at promoting music, dance, drama, creative arts, youth empowerment, and more within Cape Coast and beyond.
The initiative, outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding between UCC and TAI, was disclosed by the Head of the Department of Music and Dance during a courtesy visit by TAI Executive Director, Kim Poole.
The visit, which included the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Provost of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Head of the Department of Music and Dance, and Executive Director of TAI aimed to discuss the scope of the Arts Resilience Centre, including its proposed location and strategies for ensuring its timely completion.
In an interview with ATLFMNEWS following the courtesy call, Dr. John-Doe Dordzro, Head of the Department of Music and Dance, revealed that the establishment of the Arts Resilience Centre is intended to provide enriching experiences for students that will empower them in the field of music, dance, drama, and the creative arts once the centre is completed.
He added that the Centre will be an embodiment of many things including promoting African history, Ghanaian history, and a hub where children, and community can converge to learn, and interact with the university system.
“..It’s not just about that, there’s going to be guest workshops happening about artspreneur, empowering artists, the histories that we hold dear to us as Ghanaians, as Africans, our tradition, our culture, that is exactly what we intend doing at the Centre,” he continued.
Dr. John-Doe Dordzro revealed that, as part of the MOU, UCC has several roles to play, including providing the necessary spaces on campus for its partners when they come to interact with the Centre, as well as creating spaces for children from the community—both basic and high school students—when they are invited to the university.
The goal is to educate the children about their culture, integrate them into the university environment, and expose them to the work and knowledge produced at the university, ultimately inspiring them to aspire to study there. He added that many children, particularly those from low-income areas in the Cape Coast community surrounding UCC, rarely have the chance to engage with the university’s activities.
The Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) is a non-profit organization and professional agency dedicated to socially engaged arts culture advocacy and training. It plays an important role in promoting arts as a tool for social transformation and Development.
Executive Director Kim Poole stated that since TAI’s arrival in Ghana in 2012, the organization has sought a university partner to foster international collaborations and promote global African dialogue on resilience.
“We’ve taken many of our students the Elmina Slave Dungeon and Cape Coast Slave Dungeon, and ultimately we want to empower them to re-imagine what our abundant future will look like. And it’s impossible for you to re-imagine what the future can be unless you can be innovative, unless you are empowered with a sense of self.”
“We want to do that sacred work right here in the Cape Coast, on the Gold Coast, where so many firsts started. Kwame Nkrumah’s 1957 was the first nation emancipated from enslavement of colonial rule. We’re decolonizing education and we’re doing it right here where so many other amazing firsts have taken place.”
Poole assured that TAI brings not only funding and personnel but also creative vision to explore new possibilities.
Professor Sarfo Sarfo Kantanka, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, praised the initiative and confirmed that his faculty, alongside the Department of Music and Dance, will support the project’s successful implementation.
“The Faculty of Arts is going to facilitate together with the Department of Music and Dance, we are going to facilitate the process of getting a place to put up the project and the necessary things that we can put together to help the project to see the light of day, we are going to do that and so I am also happy that the Provost has accepted it.” he said.
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Source: Eric Sekyi/ATLFMNEWS
