Ghana’s Nkabom festival starts crowdfunding drive

The event helps a new generation of writers, griots, lyricists, performers, designers, coders and artists from across the world to gather and share their art with academics, historians and local weavers of the oral and written word.

Inkfluent is the independent body organising and financing the festival. To hit the target of estimated expenses for the 2018 edition, the organisation is now calling for funds through the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform.

"We make the artistic platform an open canvas accessible for the congregation of writers, poets, lyricists, griots and artists using literature one way or the other in their methodology, processes, presentations or performances," Inkfluent said.

"The festival also rethinks the use of space in narratology, performance, presentation and marketing of the writer and artist’s products and projects."

The festival welcomes international artists and is open to the disabled and people from marginalised communities.

This year the theme is Ɛse Ne Tɛkrɛma, meaning inter(activity) or co-existence.

The organisers said the funds would help Nkabom do the following:

• Maximise its potential and engagement with people in society receiving less attention with regards to reading and writing.
• Produce this exciting watershed experience in the continued development of the literary and performance arts space in West Africa.
• Sustain the monumental effects of knowledge acquisition through alternative means, for example: making literature accessible via our mother tongues, symbols and social, historical and philosophical templates.
• Promote cross-cultural connections and collaboration between artists and writers from diverse corners of West Africa and the diaspora.
• Invite international acts, host seeded writers/speakers and performers, local authors, publishers, small press contributors, Ghana/Togo-based bookstore outlets, national/provincial writers organizations, etc.

"The festival will also afford the opportunity to showcase and promote artist works in the spirit of collaboration and cultural exchange across the globe," the organisers said.

"You can also volunteer or apply to share your writing, video, sound, performance, workshop, etc. Kindly share this by word of mouth and across your social networks."

To contribute, visit the Nkabom GoFundMe campaign