The Gambia’s first National Endowment Fund for Art and Culture Regulation was officially signed last Friday by the country’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hamat N.K. Bah.
The signing followed a report on a survey on the state of female artists in The Gambia, along with a series of workshops that resulted in 100 artists receiving certification from the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC). Female artists and cultural workers received training in December 2022 on topics like copyright, networking, and marketing cultural goods.
Since July 2022, the NCAC has been collaborating with artists on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Aschberg project “Improving the Status and Condition of Female Artistes”. The proposal fit within the 2021 Call for Projects parameters, which NCAC submitted and the Evaluation Committee chose in May 2022 for the project.
Minister Bah made the following statements during the event: “The regulation is a significant milestone in the annals of arts and culture funding in The Gambia, and it shows the readiness of the Government to support artists for the sake of jobs, economic upliftment, and the production of works to reflect Gambian values and norms.
The tourism minister emphasized that the signed Regulation would be published in the Gazette and said he would approach Cabinet and the National Assembly to get the necessary funding to support and strengthen the Fund. “I believe that Gambian artists can do better than artists in other countries when they get the needed funding support,” Mr. Bah added.
Hassoum Ceesay, the director general of NCAC, recalled that due to a lack of regulations, for nearly 20 years they had been unable to operationalize the National Endowment Fund. “It’s all here now”, he said with a smile.
According to DG Ceesay, the law would assist Gambian artists in obtaining consistent support for their productions as well as raise their economic and social standing. He commended the tourism minister for constantly bringing up excellent artists and methods they could advance the standing of the nation’s artists.
The National Commission for UNESCO’s secretary general, Maimuna Sidibeh, emphasized the value of the creative industries and the necessity for support. She claimed that because there was a lack of an enabling environment for artists, they had to come up with this support effort.