Ghana–South Africa MoU Opens New Doors For Creative Industry Collaboration

The National Arts Council of South Africa (NACSA) and Ghana’s Blackstar Experience Secretariat (BSE), which works under the Office of the President, have formally agreed to strengthen creative collaborations through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on August 29, 2025, at NACSA’s headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Rex Owusu Marfo, CEO of BSE, signed on behalf of Ghana, while Julie Diphofa, Acting CEO of NACSA, signed on behalf of South Africa. The agreement covers several strategic areas: Cultural and creative exchange programmes, heritage preservation, Arts education collaborations and artist residencies, Institutional exchanges, internships, and training programmes, and joint research and development projects.

South African creatives will now access key Ghanaian cultural platforms, such as: Creatives Connect Afrika, Afro Future, Tidal Rave Ghana, Beyond The Return and Telecel Ghana Music Awards.

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Together, these platforms provide access to a market of more than 460 million individuals.

Emphasizing common historical and cultural ties, Rex Owusu Marfo referred to the MoU as a “bridge between Ghana and South Africa—and by extension, between West and Southern Africa.”

Julie Diphofa of South Africa praised it as a major boost to the continent’s creative ecology and a turning point for cultural diplomacy.