Popular actor and Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Film Authority (NFA), James Gardiner, has assured that the Authority is ready to maximise any budget allocated to the creative arts sector.
Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb’s Isaac Dadzie on March 28, 2025, Gardiner expressed his optimism that the NFA would secure adequate government support.
He further assured that his outfit would work to justify the resources allocated and utilise them to their best efforts.
“Hopefully, we get a very big chunk, but whichever one is allocated to us, we have to try and work with it because you and I know the government is not just going to be handing out money as well. So we have to be up and busy, up and running, and make sure we make the most of it,” he said.
Speaking on what the NFA has been up to since he assumed office in February, Gardiner said he and other new executives have been taking a cautious approach by engaging with stakeholders and identifying problems which need to be tackled.
“When you assume office like this, you have to be very careful in navigating stuff. You don’t just rush and start doing anything just to prove a point or to make everyone know that you’re busy. We first of all have to identify the problems that we have, first of all in the office and secondly in the industry as a whole.
“So, by that, we’ve met with the previous board members, we’ve met with some industry stakeholders and heads of agencies, and we’ve collated the issues that we have as of now. That’s what we’re going to use as a standpoint to see which ones that we have to tackle ASAP,” he explained.
James Gardiner said this at the 4th Edition of the Africa Music Business Dialogue, which took place in Accra.
The dialogue, hosted by musician Trigmatic, on the theme “Unlocking Africa’s Creative Potential”, brought together various stakeholders, including showbiz entrepreneurs, event organisers, musicians and many others.
ID/KA
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