Creatives holding political positions not failures —Socrate Safo

CONTRARY to popular opinion that positions held by creatives in government are merely ceremonial and lack the power to make an impact on the sector, popular film Producer and Director Socrate Safo thinks otherwise.

Holding a political position as Director for Creative Arts at the National Commission on Culture (NCC), Socrate argues the challenge has rather been a lack of information flow on their achievements to industry players.

As a panel member of the Graphic Showbiz X (Twitter) Dialogue series recently, Socrate Safo noted the proper narratives had not been shared.

“It’s unfortunate people think that having creatives in political positions is not relevant since they don’t make any impact but that is not true and they are not failures.

“I have said time without number that things are happening but keeping industry players updated has become a challenge, thereby creating the impression creatives in political positions are failures.

“There are so many things happening behind the scenes such as the National Theatre splitting costs with creatives to enable them to successfully host their events. This lessens the burden of production costs.

“A few years ago, Ghanaian comedians were condemned for not being talented but today they are all over the place because an industry person in government took the initiative to support them.

“Today, the story is different and they are making an impact and filing auditoriums like the National Theatre because a creative holding government position who understands the system worked to make it happen,” he stated.

The Graphic Showbiz X Dialogue Series on the topic: “Have creative players in political positions helped the industry?” had other panel members such as Artiste Manager, Nana Poku Ashis, Media personality and former member of FIPAG, Ola Michael, and the President, Foundation of Concerned Arts Professionals(FOCAP), Kojo Preko Dankwa, proffering divergent views on the subject.

In his submission, Kojo Preko Dankwa joined the assertion that creatives taking up political positions, especially that of the Ministry of Arts, Tourism and Culture, is not the solution to the unending challenges of the industry since they have little or no influence.

His views were supported by Nana Poku Ashis and Ola Michael, who had earlier mentioned that most creatives only take up ‘ceremonial’ positions.

Socrate Safo, however, disagreed with them, indicating that communication had rather been a challenge and not the performance of political appointees.

“If the person in there is doing things but is quiet about them, that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. There are two sides to this but the issue here is lack of communication. So it is not that they are failures,” he added.