Preparations gear up for PANAFEST 2017 - As GCB Bank offers GH¢75,000 support
Feverish preparations are underway for the organisation of the 25th Pan-African Historical Theatre Project (PANAFEST) in Cape Coast from July 25 to August 2, 2017.
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Participating Ghanaian artistes include Amandzeba Nat Brew, the National Youth Orchestra, Ben Brako and Adane Best, along with international artistes from Nigeria, South Africa, Europe and America, including the Chosen Few.
The Chosen Few is scheduled to organise a big bash at the Cape Coast Stadium on July 29, 2017.
This year’s PANAFEST, which is taking place at the Cape Coast Stadium, will include the following activities: vigils, concerts, special goods display, purchases by members of the public and business interactions.
Notable officials to participate in the programme include Grams Morgan of the Morgan’s Heritage Fame, who is also the PANAFEST Ambassador, and Mr Al Hamilton, who is the Diasporan consultant to the event.
More activities
There will be wreath-laying ceremonies at the Du Bois Centre, the George Padmore Library and the Nkrumah Mausoleum, where a distinguished speaker from Columbia, Sergio Antonio Mosquera Mosquera, the Executive Director of the Fundacion Social Afrocolombianos Muntú-Bantú, will deliver a lecture.
Events lined up for PANAFEST 2017 are the reading of tributes to Pan-African pioneers, MUSU performance, the return journey, the opening of an emporium and visual arts exhibition, Foot Prints of Pan Africanism movie premier, youth day, PANAFEST@25 grand durbar of chiefs and queenmothers, a Diaspora workshop, among many other activities.
GCB donation
Meanwhile, GCB Bank Limited has joined the crop of corporate institutions determined to ensure that the 25-year-old Pan-African cultural forum regains its glamour with a donation of GHc75,000.
The Managing Director of GCB Bank, Mr Ray Sowah, handed over the cheque to Professor Efua Sutherland-Addy and said: “As an indigenous Ghanaian bank with a heritage tied to the independence of Ghana, we are happy to be associated with PANAFEST, which seeks to celebrate the strength and resilience of our culture as Africans and the achievements of Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora.”
Ghana Commercial Bank was established in 1953 as the Bank of the Gold Coast to prepare the country for independence and address the banking needs of indigenous businesses, traders and farmers who, at the time, could not enjoy the support of existing expatriate banks.
“GCB is, therefore, best positioned to partake in this festival, which is celebrated in the spirit of Pan-Africanism and the African renaissance. GCB Bank is, indeed, excited to be part of the Silver Jubilee of PANAFEST,” Mr Sowah said.
Prof. Sutherland-Addy referred to a seamless convergence of purpose between the bank and the PANAFEST Foundation, explaining that the two entities were both mandated to promote the creative and entrepreneurial potential of Ghanaians and, by extension, all Africans.
She urged Ghanaians to begin to appreciate the value of PANAFEST as a potentially powerful self-marketing tool for the country.
Background
PANAFEST, a biennial arts and cultural festival, has been celebrated in Ghana since 1992 as a platform for reviewing the historical experiences of African societies and addressing the inherent obstacles to progress and development.
The festival applies African arts and culture to highlight and deal with the ‘traumatic interruptions’ which occurred in the natural evolution of African societies that have resulted in the sharp erosion of self-confidence and the freedom of self- determination among most Africans.
The much-anticipated 2017 edition of PANAFEST will be on the theme: “The Power of the Pan-African Culture”.