Dodowa (GAR), Oct. 8, GNA - Nii Armah Ashietey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, on Thursday joined hands with the chiefs and people of the region to celebrate this year's regional Festival of Arts and Culture, at Dodowa, in the Greater Accra Region.

The festival was used to showcase the natural potentials and economic endowments of the various assemblies of the region through photo exhibitions and local technology inventions.

The festival dubbed: "The Greater Accra Regional Festival of Arts and Culture," (GAFAC) serves as a prelude to the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC), which is slated for November 20-27 in Tamale in the Northern Region.

Nii Armah applauded the organizers of the programme for their hard work, adding that, it would help to unearth the real and unique identity of the people of the Greater Accra Region. "At the national level, it will also provide a clear opportunity for each of the 10 regions to showcase their real identity through cultural display, arts, poetry, fine arts and other locally endowed talents," he added.

He noted that NAFAC and GAFAC would continue to play a major role in the unearthing and nurturing of talented artistes and performers to stardom.

Nii Armah said arts in its different forms had become a big business and called on all to encourage people with such talents to develop them.

According to him, our indigenous foods, way of dressing and dancing, underpinned our existence as Ghanaians and our ancestral background.

He said arts, especially, painting and designing, inspired people and nurtured one's patience, observation, creativity, attentiveness and imagination.

"Beautifully finished items bring joy of success to the artistes and great satisfaction is achieved when we see our finished items displayed as decoration at home," he added. He appealed to the GAFAC and NAFAC authorities to always organise such festivals for students to boost their interest in the arts and culture.

Nii Armah also urged traditional leaders and other allied institutions to inject some form of dynamism into our culture and arts to reflect modern trends because arts in general had over the years developed in many parts of the world as an indispensable part of society.

He called on craftsmen to pay particular attention to the finishing and packaging of their products so that they could compete on the international market.

"The days when the art of producing crafts was considered as a hobby are over. Today, it has become a full business and we must maximize full benefits from it," Nii Armah added. He urged the organizers of GAFAC to put in place all the needed measures to ensure that the Greater Accra Region did well at the national level.

Mr Alex Tuffour, National Director of Culture, praised the organizers of GAFAC for a good job done and urged other regions to emulate the Greater Accra Region.

He cited the instance whereby many countries had gained a lot of respect due to the way they had packaged their culture to the outside world.

The festival saw the cultural display from all 10 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the Greater Accra Region. Although it rained throughout the programme, it could not take away the beauty and festival.