President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the cultural and creative arts sector will receive dedicated funding in the next national budget as part of efforts to strengthen Ghana’s orange economy.

Speaking at a media engagement on Thursday, September 10, 2025, the President said the government is finalising foundational work for the Blackstar Experience initiative and will soon roll out direct support for creatives.

“The Blackstar Experience will take off. They have been working on all the foundational issues and you will soon see a sign of it. In the next budget we are going to make some allocation for the creative arts, for the film fund, to support Kumawood and all the film makers, to support the music industry, to support the arts, and all that."

"We need to put our money where our mouths are, and I think that the creative arts are a good representation of our culture and who we are as a people,” he said.

President Mahama emphasised the sector’s potential to drive job creation faster than traditional industries.

“Creative industries create jobs faster than the traditional sectors that we have known. The cocoa sector or manufacturing creates one job; the creative sector, digitalisation, knowledge industry, arts and things would have created five jobs. And so that is an area in which we have to continue to invest. And that is why we created that as a ministry together with tourism,” he explained.

He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to building viable structures for the sector, in line with the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) 2024 manifesto, which positions the creative economy as a key pillar for national development.

Nearly nine months into his term, stakeholders continue to push for clearer structures and sustained investment to transform Ghana’s cultural and creative industries into globally competitive ventures.