Film director Isaac Rockson has said the movie industry collapsed in 2017 due to the name change from ‘Creative Arts’ to Art.
He lamented about the current state of the movie industry and the fact that majority of the film producers are out of business because the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Catherine Afeku has failed to seek ideas from stakeholders of the industry to put things right.
According to him, the renaming of the creative arts to only arts ministry has caused a major decline in film production within a month as compared to the other years.
“The movie industry is dead… yes absolutely dead. It died the year 2017 when the ministry took out the creative from the arts. The creative aspect that was taken out has caused the collapse of the industry. When you look at the demeanour of the minister, you can simply tell that her focus wasn’t on creative arts. The minister isn’t performing as a leader of governance but she’s acting as a leader of a political party”
Speaking on Kasapa Fm’s Entertainment show, Isaac Rockson told host Kojo Preko Dankwa that the Madam Catherine Afeku is serving a selected few in the movie industry basically for the help they also offered in bringing the party to power.
“I’ve a big problem with the Minister because all her plans are politically motivated. She is only helping people who also helped to bring their party to power… yes she’s serving a few people. When you compare her with the former Minister, Elizabeth Adjare, the former arts minister never surrounded herself with the NDC celebrities… We never saw the former Minister traveled with John Dumelo or Mr. Beautiful but with the current Minister she hardly surround herself with very knowledgeable people in the industry who can at least help with their advise to make the industry active again.”
Rockson further advised that irrespective of the political affiliations of most stakeholders in the movie industry, the Minister should engage them to get the industry running.
“We were part of those who helped the former Minister to push for the passing of the Film Bill but I feel sad that people will take this help we offered to her as though we were part of their party… There individuals who are experienced in the movie industry and can offer a free helping hand to any government in power devoid of their political affiliations.”
However, in the Minister’s justification of the name change, she asserted that, there seems to be some tautology with the use of the words, ‘Creative’ and ‘Arts’ because arts is all about creativity and so on.
What is the difference between ‘Arts’ and ‘Creative Arts’?
The excuse given for the name change is the fact that, Creative Arts and Arts bear the same meaning and the use of both creates redundancy. Let’s see if the assertion holds true!
Arts – The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
Let’s check out Creative Arts too;
Creative Arts – include drama or theater, music, film, creative writing, graphic design, photography and visual arts.
The use of ‘Creative Arts’ is entirely not wrong, especially when you have internationally-recognized firms and institutions using the name.
