Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana (ACIG) is a collaborative and interdisciplinary research project. The project is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA) and runs from 2019 to 2024.

 

Objective: The objective of ACIG is to generate new knowledge of creative and cultural industries (CCIs) in Ghana. Specifically, ACIG examines the impact of existing CCI policy and government initiatives, and explores the lived and situated dynamics of creative work and creative entrepreneurship in Ghana.

 

The empirical and theoretical knowledge generated through ACIG will provide the groundwork for policy co-design and business model co-production in collaboration with stakeholders as a step towards securing decent jobs and viable businesses in the CCI sector.

 

Sectors: ACIG focuses on four key creative industries in Ghana: performing arts, film, fashion design and visual arts.

 

Work packages: ACIG is structured around three distinct yet mutually supportive research domains, each with sub-questions, which feed into related Work Packages (WPs).

 

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Key research questions:

 

Creative Policy

• What is the national and local policy infrastructure that governs CCIs?

• Do current policies for CCIs provide the necessary support for their development in line with the government’s ambitions for CCI-led growth strategies?

• How might policymakers better address the needs of creative workers and entrepreneurs?

 

Creative Labour

• Who enters the CCIs and why?

• What are creative workers’ experiences of labour conditions and how do these vary by profession, gender, socio-economic level and place?

• How do creative workers perceive the opportunities and obstacles they face?

• What are creative workers’ experiences of government policies and how could these be improved?

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Creative Entrepreneurship

• Who are the creative entrepreneurs and what are their experiences of running businesses?

• How are their business models configured in terms of access to capital, sources of revenue, customer bases and branding?

• What business model innovations are needed for viable business development in CCIs?

•  What is the impact of CCI policy on creative businesses and how could it be improved?