THE CULTURE CARAVAN

On the road from 30^th April to 7^th of May 2009

Brought To You By the French Embassy and Vodafone 


Organized by the Cultural Affairs Services of the French Embassy in partnership with Vodafone, the Cultural Caravan is an initiative designed to challenge artists to develop entertainment by creating new ideas and material which will help the local industry grow. The Culture Caravan is a musical in a contemporary context, with a DJ, a band, traditional musicians, dancers, artists and actors taking you through local fables, daily drama, current news and issues in a format that bears some resemblance to Concert Parties. Starring Hiplife Grandpapa Reggie Rockstone, Kwaw Kese, King Ayisoba, Wanlov the Kubolor, DJ Black, Master Drummer Okyerema Yaw Kontor and his all female drummers and theatre starlet Abena Takyi amongst others.



Arnaud Dornon, Head of Cooperation and Cultural Affairs at the French Embassy spent months developing the concept with Pidgen Music, and enlisted the help of renowned Director Michel Crespin (nicknamed the “Pope of Street Art” in France) to assist with the project. Speaking about the collaboration, he said “the French Government appreciates how important our culture is to our development and economy, and I am very excited by this project, which combines the best from France with the best from Ghana.This is also a new era in commercial partnerships and we are very happy to have Vodafone as sponsors of this project.”



Panji Anoff, the Artistic Director, is very upbeat. “People don’t even know that Reggie Rockstone is an actor who went to drama school and performed in many plays in the U.K. before hiplife. We have Reggie, Wanlov the Kubolor, Kwaw Kese, King Ayisoba and Abena and Yaw Kontor acting roles, performing their hit songs and DJ Black scratching video.This will be a real treat for the audience. Ghanaians are always eager for something refreshing and it is time our artists are challenged with real opportunities to show their talent and ability.”



Vodafone’s sponsorship of this Culture Caravan is a first in the industry. As David Anku, Events manager at Vodafone puts it, “At Vodafone we believe in supporting the local arts industry. By associating with this novel concept, we are saying that we are ready to see it make waves and look forward to the reviews that it will garner.”



The Culture Caravan is brought to you by the French Embassy and proudly supported by Vodafone. Media Partners: TV3, The Multimedia Broadcasting Company and the Graphic Communications Group.

ITINERARY

Round 1.    Thur. 30th April, Takoradi Jubilee Park  
             Fri. 1st May, Elmina Castle Park
          Sat. 2nd May, Kasoa, fmr. Market Sqr.
          Sun 3^rd May - Jamestown Mantse Agbona
          
Round 2.    Thu. 7th May, Kumasi, Jubilee Grounds 
          Fri. 8th May, Koforidua, Jackson Park
          Sat. 9th May, Nkawkaw Ofori Park
          Sun. 10th May, Obuasi Black Park

Ghana Through the Lens: A Photo Journey by Willis Bell

The Gothe-Institut and Mmofra Foundation presents a spectacular photo memoir of the immediate post-Independence years of Ghana. The exhibition provides a glimpse of 100,000 images of Ghana bequeathed to the custody of Mmofa Foundation by long time Ghanaian resident, photographer Willis Eugene Bell (1924-1999).

The archive is in the process of restoration and digitization under the technical direction of Alf Bremer with the support of the Gothe-Institut.

Dates: Wednesday, April 21 - Tuesday, May 5 2009

Time: 10am - 5pm

Location: The Nubuke Foundation, 7th Adamafio close, East Legon, near Aristocrat Hotel.

Entry: Free

Blow Up @ The Dei Center

The Dei Center

Invites you to

A discussion

on

Collecting Contemporary Art

With Gregory R. Miller

Managing Director, Greenhill Co.

and President, Gregory R. Miller Co.

&

Book Launch of

Lyle Ashton Harris: Blow Up

Blowup is a twenty-year retrospective monograph of Lyle Ashton Harris’s work featuring recent photographs made while living in Ghana. Contributors to the book include Ghana’s own philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah and artist/scholar Senam Okudzeto. Appiah discusses Harris’s work in the context of a penetrating commentary regarding contemporary Ghana and Okudzeto offers an insightful conversation between herself and the artist.

Date: Sunday 26^th April 2009

The Dei Center

No.7A Ninth Street

Tesano - Accra

0244357383

Time: 4.00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Co-Hosted by Nat Amarteifio

The Dei Center for contemporary art is a partnership between the Seth and Carleene Dei Foundation and New York University’s Africa House. The mission of the Dei Center is to support and promote the creation, study, exhibition, and conservation of contemporary African art, with a special emphasis on the visual art of Ghana. Through academic symposia, exhibitions and public lectures, the Dei Center will make a valuable contribution to the cultural life of artists, scholars and students in Ghana and throughout the international community.

Gregory R. Miller Biography

Gregory Miller is a Managing Director of Greenhill & Co., an independent global investment banking firm focused on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring and merchant banking. Greenhill & Co. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: GHL). At Greenhill, Miller serves clients in the media industry, with a particular focus on companies involved in publishing and information services in both the U.S and Europe. Prior to joining Greenhill in early 2004, he was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse, where he worked for more than 14 years. He has worked with some of the world's largest publishing and information companies and has advised on more than 100 merger and acquisition and capital raising transactions in all segments and media of the industry.

In 2004, Miller launched Gregory R. Miller & Co. (www.grmandco.com), a publisher of high quality books about contemporary art and artists. His publishing company’s books aim not only to enhance our understanding and appreciation of art but also to make a contribution to the broader cultural dialogue of which contemporary art is an essential part. Gregory R. Miller & Co. has published highly regarded and award-winning publications on artists such as Marilyn Minter, Ann Hamilton, Amy Sillman, Ellen Harvey, and Lyle Ashton Harris. Forthcoming publications include major monographs on Ghada Amer, Uta Barth, Joan Jonas, Adrian Piper, and Mark Bradford, among others. D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers distributes the publications of Gregory R. Miller & Co.

Miller is President of the Board of White Columns and is a Member of the Board and Treasurer of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, which administers the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. He is also a member of the Painting & Sculpture Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art and a member of the International Center of Photography’s Acquisitions Committee. Miller received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1993 and a B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1987.

Lyle Ashton Harris Biography

Lyle Ashton Harris was born in the Bronx and raised in New York City and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He currently lives and works in New York City and Accra, Ghana. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Walker Art Center, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Kunsthalle Basel, and the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva. Harris participated in the 2nd International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville and the 52nd Venice Biennale. His work is in numerous public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Harris’s commissioned work is regularly featured in a wide range of publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Vibe, and New York. During 2000 and 2001, he was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. He is represented by CRG Gallery in New York. Gregory R. Miller & Co. has recently published a monograph of the artist, Lyle Ashton Harris: Blow Up, with essays by Cassandra Coblentz, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and Kwame Anthony Appiah. Forthcoming in 2009, Gregory R. Miller & Co. will publish Lyle Ashton Harris, Excessive Exposure: The Complete Chocolate Portraits, with an essay by Okwui Enwezor and foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr. In 2004, Gregory R. Miller & Co. published Lyle Ashton Harris, with an essay by Anna Deavere Smith. Harris is a Professor of Art at NYU in Ghana.