By Saio Marrah
Dr. Julius Spencer has encouraged students of the Faculty of Media and Information Studies of Fourah Bay College (FBC) to enhance their creative minds in a bid to remain relevant to their societies, saying that a society cannot move forward without creative people.
He was speaking during his public lecture at the FBC Multi-Purpose Hall on Friday 19th May 2023, titled “National Development through Neglect of the Arts and Culture in Sierra Leone.”
In his delivery, he mentioned an article titled “Three Reasons Performing Arts are Important in Society,” which he said identifies the nurturing of creativity as a very important element of the performing arts.
According to him, the performing arts are about being creative and that without a creative voice, a society may become all but dead inside while a social group without any creativity is likely to be repressive and tyrannical rather than a force for good.
Thus, he said the importance of having people in society who can express themselves creatively is without doubt.
“Biologists have argued that the formation of creativity was the most important step in human development, and that society cannot move forward without creative people,” Dr. Spencer asserted.
Explaining the importance of Performing Arts to children, he said that such kind of education helps them solve problems by thinking outside the box and realizing that there may be more than one right answer to any issue.
Giving instance to music as a component of performing art, he mentioned the National Association of Music Educators in the USA which identifies twenty benefits that music provides for children, of which he said include; musical training that helps develop language, reasoning and emotional development.
More so, he said music builds imagination and intellectual curiosity by introducing it in early childhood years, to help foster a positive attitude toward learning and curiosity and artistic education attitude toward learning and curiosity. Artistic education develops the whole brain and develops a child’s imagination, he stated.
On the neglect of the creative sector in Sierra Leone, Dr. Spencer mentioned how a document called “National Cultural Policy” which was completed in 2006 and adopted by cabinet in 2007, and then revalidated in 2010, remained dormant until 2014 when he said the then ministry decided to launch it and print out copies.
However, he said before the launch, the minister by then was misled in expunging sections that made provisions for an implementing agency in the formation of the National Commission for Arts and Culture.
“Consequently there is no implementing agency for the policy and so it has simply been gathering dust on shelves with no implementation taking place,” he noted.
He added:“I say the action taken by the minister in 2014 was tragic for the cultural sector because had this not happened, the status of the arts and culture in Sierra Leone would have been very different today,” he noted.
The role of that commission would have been to execute through functional departments in charge of museums and monuments, research and documentation that include library and archive.
The work of the commission would also have been to create performing arts, cultural industries, administration, marketing and finance.
Among the things he said Sierra Leoneans have neglected or not proud of is having “many of our girls and women bleach their skins and will do almost anything to get wigs or attachments, why Sierra Leoneans wear African attire (Ghanaian, Nigerian, Guinean, and etcetera) but not Sierra Leonean’’. Dr. Spencer questioned what went wrong with the Gara industry in Sierra Leone
On areas of where Sierra Leone has potential to create employment and generate revenue, he quoted the International Finance Cooperation annual report of 2006, which estimated that with an investment of Five Million United States Dollars, Bunce Island could generate up to 400 million dollars in eight years.
A year one student from the Department of Development Communication in the Faculty of Media and Information Studies at Fourah Bay College, Faith Kofa, who attended the public lecture, told journalists that she learnt about the fall of the creative sector and how it has affected the country.
She also highlighted the contribution she made during the question and answer session that talked about the socialization aspect on the family, schools, communities, and among others.
For the family aspect, she said when you want to portray something that is creative, they try to bring the individual down, and in the school there are lots of things missing such as music.
Kofa said she wanted to embark on music aspect because she had passion for it.
“I have met someone who I think will help me to establish that’’. The public lecture was organized by the Faculty of Media and Information Studies with support from National Petroleum (NP) .
Copyright © 2023 Politico (22/05/23)
