Efua Sutherland Drama Studio needs fixing

THE President of the Arts & Tourism Writers Association of Ghana (ATWAG) and a creative aficionado, Mr George Quaye, has in the last couple of days been yelping to bring attention to the dilapidated state of the Efua Sutherland Drama Studio of the University of Ghana, Legon.

Mr Quaye has not only made claims, he has backed his cries with blatant evidence of the ramshackle state of the what was supposed to be the breeding ground for stars and super stars in our creative space.

In his bid to get heard and possibly get some positive reaction – the producer/director/events manager tagged almost everybody that matters in governance and the creative industry—from the President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the porters at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture, everybody got to know!

Mr Quaye’s cause to get the drama studio attain a well-deserved face-lift is such a genuine one that requires all the purveyors and supporters of the creative industry to tout as well.

Efua Sutherland Won’t Be Pleased

Wherever the luminary Efua Sutherland is, she would definitely not be pleased at how her memory is being denigrated with all these edifices named after her colossal name.

The Efua Sutherland Children’s Park has been in such a sorry state for years. Not even the promise made in the Manifesto of the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) years ago has seen it fixed.  Here comes another pivotal edifice named after the legend that is going to waste and no one seems to care.

The state of the children’s park and the drama studio is surely not the way to celebrate a colossus who contributed more than half of her lifetime shaping and instilling a refreshing paradigm shift in the creative industry in Ghana.

The legend’s contribution in uplifting the arts, projecting Pan-Africanism and championing the cause of children is simply immeasurable and her legacy is celebrated beyond the frontiers of Ghana.

The Current State

Mr Quaye, who manages Image Bureau, an organisation which has staged some of the best plays in recent times, is a product of the Drama Studio and has been patronising the place in recent times—he has a vivid description of what the place looks like.

The multi-hyphenate opines that over the years, weather damage, broken chairs, a nearly unusable stage, and problematic electrical systems have rendered the theatre virtually lifeless. This unfortunate situation not only hampers the educational and artistic pursuits of the students and faculty but also restricts the potential for impactful performances and workshops that could inspire and enrich our society.

Interestingly, the University of Ghana charges for the use of the facility so it is clearly a revenue-generating point for the school but Mr Quaye muses why anybody or entity would want to pay to use a facility in such a despicable state?

He also stressed on how lectures, rehearsals and other activities are cancelled or postponed all because the facility is not in a good shape to host any form of activity—sharing pictorial evidence of how students sit outside in their numbers to learn or rehearse.

School of Performing Arts Underestimated

The Efua Sutherland Drama Studio is under the auspices of the School of Performing Arts of the University of Ghana. The School of Performing Arts is one of the schools under the College of Humanities and comprise five units, namely Department of Theatre Arts, Department of Dance Studies and Department of Music, Abibigoromma Group and the Efua Sutherland Drama Studio.

The School offers courses of study both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. They are, respectively, BA/BFA (Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Fine Arts), MA/MFA (Master of Arts/Master of Fine Arts). The School also runs Ph.D. courses.

Currently, there are so many personnel in the creative industry who are heads of production companies that employ others or celebrities on our screens who went through the School of Performing Arts.

Most of these personnel are responsible for most of the creative pieces we see on TV, hear on radio and watch on stage. They hold the entertainment industry in their palms and it is essential to protect them, protect the institution that gave them the requisite training and most importantly, protect the next generation of creatives in that Institution waiting to take over the space.

The state of the Drama Studio and the School of Performing Arts simply mirrors the level of seriousness and attention given to the arts by the State.

Who is Responsible?

Mr Quaye went for the jugular—dropping names of every important personality in government, starting with the President of Ghana, in a desperate bid to garner attention to the situation.

According to him, in 2004, the then President, H.E J.A. Kufuor, with funding from the GETFund, initiated the construction of a new theatre for the School of Performing Arts. The artistic community met the promises of a state-of-the-art facility, multiple stages, increased seating capacity, and modern equipment with great anticipation but unfortunately, the project stalled and has been abandoned since.

The question is; who is responsible to ensure that the drama studio is renovated and the new facility see its completion? The University of Ghana or the Government of Ghana?

Obviously, the Government of Ghana has a big stake in the progress of the university and in effect, all public universities across the country but critically, the onus lies with the University of Ghana to spearhead any form of initiative that would see to the completion of the new facility and the renovation of the existing one.

In 2008, Pres. Akufo-Addo launched the University of Ghana Endowment Fund to provide additional funds to supplement government’s efforts to ensure that the university improves upon delivery on her mandate.

The President, who is an alumnus of the University of Ghana, remarked that the Endowment Fund is as an excellent initiative and said endowment funds constitute the fulcrum around which most world-class universities in the world operate. 

He was hopeful the proceeds from the Fund would assist in the provision of additional facilities to enhance research and teaching. The estimated amount earmarked for the Fund was $100M.

Just like how this government is taking control of the completion of the University of Ghana Sports Stadium, which been tabled for completion in 2024, the government can also make the move at seeing to the Efua Sutherland Drama Studio.