Nominations are opened for the National and Regional ATAG Elections slated for August 7 2021.

Per the ATAG constitution, the vacant positions for the National are:

• National President
• Ist National Vice
• 2^nd National Vice
• National Secretary
• National Organiser
• National Financial Secretary
• National Treasurer
• National Public Relations Officer
• National Ladies’ Representative

The vacant Regional positions are:

• Regional President
• Ist Regional Vice
• 2^nd Regional l Vice
• Regional Secretary
• Regional Organizer
• Regional Financial Secretary
• Regional Treasurer
• Regional Public Relations Officer
• Regional Ladies’ Representative

Interested members should use provided link to fill the form:

https://forms.gle/y9aVS1UcVvL9LpU36

The deadline for submission of forms is 1^st August 2021. Only registered members could stand for and could vote.

Note:

The nomination Fee is GHS 100 payable to ATAG Momo 0243852922.

Filled formed would be considered complete only after  payment of a non-refundable fee of GHS100

Thank You

 PRESS RELEASE

 # FIX THE GHANA NATIONAL MUSEUM 

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The Art Teachers’ Association of Ghana (ATAG) congratulate, salute and celebrate all Ghanaian museum staff. We appreciate your hard work! In celebrating this special occasion of International Museum Day (IMD) observed annually on May 18, we encourage all museum staff to continue with the good work they are doing for the nation.

We, the Art Teachers’ Association of Ghana, join hands with the International Council of Museums (ICOM) to celebrate this special day on the theme “The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine”. This theme attracts sober reflection on the state of the nations’ national and regional museums considering the fact they have been left to rot under the watch of successive governments after the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. In celebrating this day, marked annually for the purpose of awareness creation about the great importance of museums in the historical, educational and socio-cultural development of nations, it saddens our heart to come to terms with the harsh historical reality that governments after Nkrumah have done little or nothing to continue and or add to the progressive development of the national museum he built. The 1958 extension works started by Nkrumah have become a place for squatters. It has been left in ruins. Interestingly, Ghana National Museum is one of the oldest museums in West Africa.

The Ghana National Museum in Accra still inhabits the 1957 temporal building which was meant to be one of the galleries of the original structure. Sadly, this temporal structure leaks, making the collections unsafe. On December 24, 2015, this National Gallery of the Ghana Museums was closed to refurbish the leakages when it rains. Sadly, due to lack of political will, the renovation which began in 2015 has not been completed to date. The Museum of Science and Technology (MST) near Accra Technical University (formerly called Accra Poly) also leaks. The Ghana National Museum has been closed to the public for six years now due to leakage of the building. 

The national museum is facing leadership deficiency; has magnificent physical infrastructural deficit; serious funding problems; lacks proper branding strategy; and has obsolete laws. The Ghana National Museum needs proactive and action-oriented leadership to address the challenges of physical infrastructure, obsolete laws, funding concerns, and introduce a good branding strategy. This is because the museum shapes national identity, public arts education and enculturation of the current and future generations.

We are, therefore, appealing to the government to Fix-The-Ghana-National-Museum. Our national Museum must reflect our varied artistic cultures, and be a powerhouse of our art history and identity.

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During every election year, both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) articulate their campaign promises on what they intend doing to promote the entire Creative Arts sector in their manifestoes. The duopoly (NDC & NPP), have been alternating political power in the fourth republic of Ghana. It is against this background that this study focused on the comparative content analysis of the manifestoes of these two major political parties in Ghana to reveal their promises and its deliverability relating to the Creative Arts. Comparative content analytical approach was used to analyse the content of the promises. It took into cognisance the promises they delivered when they were given the nod by the Ghanaian electorates. The study revealed that with the absence of National Creative Arts Policy, both the NDC and NPP have provided middle-of-the-road art policies in their manifestoes which have largely remained unfulfilled since 2012 to present. The promises were bias towards the performing arts, leaving the Visual Arts. Both parties made promises of establishing a resilient Creative Arts sector by building and supporting more museums, create jobs for art and craft producers through their policy initiatives. They also promised of building art galleries and regional theatres and establish Creative Arts Fund, support musicians, film actors and producers in the performing arts industry, yet all these juicy promises have proved to be mere lip service under the respective tenure of these two political parties.

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The Art Teachers Association of Ghana (ATAG) commends government for being proactive in absorbing the fee associated with 2020 WASSCE (West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination) practical for the Visual Arts student-finalists. It is first of its kind in the history of WASSCE and, therefore, highly commendable.

However, our visits to the Senior High Schools upon commencement of the examination on July 20, 2020 revealed that monies allocation per each student for the execution of the practical works in the Visual Arts subjects was Fifteen Ghana Cedis (15GHS). Based on the demand of the questions, this money is woefully inadequate and cannot cater for even one of the four (4) Visual arts elective subjects the students pursue.

There are eight (8) Visual Arts Subjects namely Basketry, Jewellery, Sculpture, Ceramics, Picture Making, Graphic Design, Leatherwork and Textiles in addition to General Knowledge in Art (GKA) which students are required to execute practical works as part of their 2020 WASSCE final examination. These subjects are categorised into three-dimensional (Leatherwork, Basketry, Jewellery, Sculpture and Ceramics), and two-dimensional (Picture Making, Graphic Design, and Textiles). Of these two categories, each student is mandated to study two subjects from each category in addition to General Knowledge in Art (GKA). This allow students to study an average of four visual arts subjects of which they are to execute practical works.

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We send our very best wishes to all Visual Arts student-finalists partaking in the 2020 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) starting from Monday, July 20, 2020. With your creativity, innovative spirit and discipline, follow all examination rules and regulations, as well as the COVID-19 protocols to have a fruitful examination. With your studiousness and confident urge in the three years of training from your Art Teachers, put up your very best and success will clad your efforts.

We wish you best of luck in all your papers.

As part of the 2020 International Museum Day celebration, the Art Teachers’ Association of Ghana has appealed to government to save the Ghana National Museum from decay and continue with the 1964 abandoned museum extension project. The museum has been closed for five years now due to leakages of this temporary building. In delivering of the address, Dr Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, the national president of the association urged the government to focus attention on the museum since it is the powerhouse of the nation’s material and non-material cultural history. He also appealed for the establishment of a National Art Gallery.

Watch the video detailing the address of ATAG.

Download the full text.

The Supreme Council, the second highest decision-making body of the Art Teachers’ Association of Ghana (ATAG), at its first general meeting held on January 6, 2020 at T. I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School (TI AMASS), Kumasi, urged members to be pro-active and give their best to serve and build the association. In his welcoming address at the meeting, Mr Antwi-Wiafe (Cuma Lee), the past first National President of ATAG who doubles as a teacher of Ahmadiyya Senior High School (TI AMASS) welcomed members of the Supreme Council to the meeting and expressed his sentiments about the progressive development of the association. He added that becoming a member of such a prestigious subject-based association is paramount since it contributes to one’s continuous professional development in academic pursuit as professional art teacher. Antwi-Wiafe stressed on the need for members to register online on ATAG website to reap the full benefits the association has to offer.

Dr. Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, the current National ATAG President also welcomed members and delivered the current state of ATAG since the induction of his administration from 17^thAugust 2019 to date. He pointed out that, the contributions of the National Executive Council (NEC) and support from the membership of ATAG have contributed to registration of the Association (ATAG) at the Registrar General’s Department of the Republic of Ghana; creating ATAG website that include a database for membership registration and interactive engagements. He encourage all members to register online (https://www.atagonline.org/join-now/) and pay their dues for more development.

Registering as a paid-up member of ATAG comes with benefits including free scholarly journal and magazine publications, free annual professional development training and conferences, ATAG paraphernalia (Cloth, sticker, etc), membership ID Card, free access to teaching and learning resources in its database.

The Supreme Council discussed the five-year ATAG strategic Plan (2019 – 2023). The  strategic plan prepared by the National Executive Council (NEC) was laid before the Supreme Council and was fully supported to be operationalized after changes effected within some parts of the documents. A brief discussion was held on how members could register online, pay their dues, communicate and interact with each other. The Supreme Council was delighted that member could go online to the website and register. Two main channels were identified for the payment of the dues. The first is by the online payment using the Momo Pay, which is renewable every year and the second is payment through monthly deductions from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department. For the latter option members may have to fill a form to that effect. Dr. Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel added that the zonal categorization is meant for registration purposes and to widen the membership of the association. It is aimed at giving each member a unique identity code that would serve as the ATAG registration number. The regional code would be the prefix for a member’s identity number, followed by the year of registration, month of registration, zonal code and the reference number. The immediate President of ATAG, Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, called for a massive membership registration drive and campaign from all zones within the country.

The Supreme Council charged the various regional presidents to select three to four interim zonal executives to manage the various zones and furnish the national executive council with their names. The Council appointed Mr Paul Okyere Afoakwa as the acting President for Central Region until a substantive president is elected. The Constitutional Review Committee was also tasked to add to the constitution the impeachment regulation for the conducts of all executive members whose conduct does not contribute to the growth of the association.

Authored by

Daniel Ato Adubah

(National Secretary)