Cultural Oneness Festival, an initiative to promote cultural awareness, domestic tourism and the diverse rich culture of Africa and their outgrowth in the diaspora has been launched in Tamale.
The three- day event to be held in December dubbed ‘Celebrating the Diverse Cultures that Bond us Together as One People’ seeks to tap into the inherently lucrative commercial opportunities and leverage proceeds to build up new talents, expand entertainment businesses and support non-profit organisations operating in the industry.
The event to be organised by The Taste of Afrika (TTOA), an entertainment and events company in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) Northern office, Harlem Tourism Board, Ngommaa Value Added Services ltd, Musicians Union of Ghana among others, is also to create economic opportunities to contribute to the growth and development of the entertainment and tourism industry.
It would also help to foster greater understanding and appreciation of African cultures while promoting the growth of the creative arts and tourism industry.
Chief Zangbaling Lana Dr. Yakubu Mahama, who represented the Overlord of Dagbon Ndan Ya -Na Abukari II commended GTA and the partners for the initiative to promote the cultural heritage of the Northern to the international world. “Northern sector has lots of culture and tourism potentials that needed to be promoted to create job opportunities for the youth to curb the unemployment rate and so the event has come at the right time,” he said.
Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu said: “we are fortunate to live in a region that is steeped in history and culture and therefore provides an opportunity to share the heritage while preserving the cultural legacy for future generation. Let us celebrate our region’s cultural heritage and embrace cultural diversity as a nation,” he added.
He reiterated government’s commitment to support the promotion of domestic tourism in the country.
Northern Regional Manager for GTA, Angelo Yossi Dogbe noted that the aim of bringing the festival to the north is to attract and move tourism traffic up north, to open up the northern belt, connect the diaspora directly to their roots as our brothers and sisters are eager to connect to their identity as well as attract investment.
A co-founder of TTOA, Tengol K. Kplemani said the organisation embarks on events that strengthen the kinship and cultural strands of Africa and its industry players together to promote the cultural heritage. “We leverage our deep connection with the entertainment industry and our vast and diverse communities to discover and develop talents, set them up to succeed and offer opportunities to the less privilege ones,” he said.
