The aims of the forum are to articulate the needs of the sector to be considered in operationalising the National Endowment Fund for Arts and Culture; brainstorm on general principles for the National Endowment Fund for Arts and Culture regulation and agree on a high-level plan for consultations throughout the development of the regulation.
In his opening remarks, Hassoum Ceesay, the director general of the National Centre for Arts and Culture welcomed the participants and reminded participants about the Quadrennial Periodic Reports to the 2005 Convention exercise organised by the center in 2019.
He applauded the international expert, Ms. Ojoma Ochai for her support during the exercise and “because we were successful in our reporting for the first time, The Gambia submitted the report on the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the promotion of cultural diversity in cultural expressions. With that UNESCO has disclosed its readiness to assist us to upgrade the status of the Gambia artists.”
He added that The Gambia was successful alongside two other countries; Cape Verde and Romania, while he noted that the project is of three components – a nationwide survey on the involvement of female artists in the various artistic sector; the national endowment fund and the upgrading and capacity building of the artists.
The director general highlighted the importance of the National Endowment Fund for the artists and therefore enjoined the stakeholders to work hard towards that to allow access to funds.
More so, he said after the validation of the National Endowment fund, whoever meets the criteria after filling the form as required will have access to the fund and he urged stakeholders in the sector to have hope and be positive on this “because it is time to work together with the necessary authorities to make it a reality.”
The NCAC DG on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture thanked the UNESCO-ASCHBERG programme for the support.
Dimitiri Sanga, head of UNESCO Dakar, addressed the forum online from his office in Dakar, while the international expert, Ojoma Ochai guided participants through the arts endowment funds from around the world; brainstorming what the Gambia Endowment Fund for Arts and Culture should cover and adopt among other exercises.
