Creative Arts, Music & Culture

As a writer, DJ, and all-round culture geek, I have championed music, art and creativity for over two decades, and I’m often asked to participate in panels, public lectures and workshops on matters of music, arts and culture.

I am a curatorial committee member for the ACCES Music Festival: the biggest annual gathering of music practitioners in Africa. I was also invited by Ghana’s biggest gathering of cultural practitioners – the Ghana Cultural Forum – to be keynote speaker at the 2023 Ghana Culture Day Symposium, sharing the stage with the likes of Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Culture and UNESCO’s representative to Ghana.

Get in touch if you need someone who can research, speak on, or pursue creative projects around music, art, African popular culture, and counterculture.

ARTS RESEARCH & REPORTS

• Mapping Music Venues & Spaces in Accra Towards Strengthening Ghana’s Cultural & Creative Industries (CCIs); a report for Expertise Africa (Mar 2024)
• Forces of Art: Perspectives from a Changing World (with Dr. Joseph Oduro Frimpong; Idea Books, 2020) chapter on ‘The Sustainability of Contemporary Arts Spaces in Ghana, Tanzania & Uganda‘

PUBLIC SPEAKING & WORKSHOPS

• Keynote Speaker, Ghana Cultural Forum, 12th Ghana Culture Day Symposium & 3rd National Delegates Conference (Mar 2023)
• Speaker, Webster University, ThompsonTalk: “Highlife & its Discontents: an Introduction to African Altè” (Sep 2022)
• Facilitator, 2022 Mo Issa Writing Workshops (Sep 2022)
• Presenter, Pop Culture, Pidgin & Other Strange Paths Towards Social Memory for the 2022 Library Of Africa & The African Diaspora (LOATAD) Symposium (Apr 2022)
• Presenter, Help America: Why Africans Should Care Despite African Problems for SOAS Virtual Lecture Series (Jul 2020)
• Project Lead, Ashesi Innovation Experience Creative Arts Module (Aug 2019, 2018)
• Facilitator, Getting Your Royalties Right for Aftown Music Workshop (Jul 2019)
• Presenter, Televise the Revolution: How Pop Academia Can Help Save Ghana for the Nubuke Foundation’s Ghana Must Go Series (May 2017)
• Facilitator, GIRD Creative Non-Fiction Writing Workshop (Oct 2016) 
• Speaker, Blogging Ghana’s Inaugural By the Fireside Monthly Event (Oct 2015) 
• Presenter, Accra Theatre Workshop’s Storytelling Marathon (Mar 2014)  

Panels

• Panelist, Yoyo Tinz Hip Hop@50 / 10 Year Anniversary Celebration (Dec 2023)
• Panelist, 2023 ACCES Music Conference, Connecting Africa and the Diaspora through Music, Lifestyle and Culture (Nov 2023)
• Panelist, Goethe Institut, Blind Date: Let’s Talk About Conflict of Generations (Jun 2023)
• Panelist, Popular Arts, Culture & Activism Conference,  On the State of Popular (Media) Art and Research in Ghana (Dec 2022)
• Panelist, Lagos International Poetry Festival, Conscious Solidarities: Black Solidarity Across Generation, Geography & Gender (Oct 2020)
• Panelist, Pa Gya Literary Festival, When a Short Story Works (Oct 2020)
• Panelist, Adventures… Live! panel on Raising Kids without Sexual Shame (Aug 2020)
• Panelist, Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD) on Feminisms in Ghana; Are there new approaches in the push for gender equality? (Mar 2020)
• Judge, University of Ghana International Week Debate (Feb 2020)
• Panelist, New Versions of Old Visions: How We Dey Claim Wona Own for Tampered Press launch (Jan 2020)
• Panelist, Year of Return Speakeasy at eAnanse Library (Nov 2019)
• Panelist, Webster University Ghana talk on Social Media in the 21st Century; Its Impact on Mental Health, Business Success and Social Movements (Oct 2019)
• Panelist/Moderator, Celebrity, Complicity and Community: Making Sense of ‘Surviving R Kelly for Webster University Ghana (Mar 2019)
• Panelist, Tell Me What You See (Through the Looking Glass of Pop Culture) at the Yoyo Tinz Festival (Nov 2018)
• Speaker, Process Music Summit (Jan 2018)  
• Speaker, Buzz Meets Biz Accra Exchange Program (Nov 2017)  
• Panelist, Let’s Talk Consent Workshop (Nov 2016) 
• Panelist, Ghana’asem Leadership Series (Oct 2016)  
• Host/Panelist, MESH Design Confab (May 2016) 
• Panelist, PwC Aspire to Lead 2016 Panel Discussion (Feb 2016) 
• Panelist, Government of Ghana/IOM Panel Discussion on Diaspora, Transnational Belonging and Giving Back (Dec 2015)  
• Panelist, Yoyo Tinz Palabre during Alliance Francaise’ Hip Hop Week (Nov 2015) 

MCing & Moderating

• Moderator, Nyame Mma Film Launch & Panel Discussion (Feb 2024)
• Moderator, Pa Gya Literary Festival, Creating Literary Spaces (Oct 2023)
• Moderator, Pa Gya Literary Festival, From Britain to Bokoor: The Ghanaian Musical Journey of John Collins (Oct 2023)
• Moderator, AWA ACP-EU Culture Programme, The Influence of Digital Technology on Economic & Social Collaboration in the West African Cultural System (Aug 2022)
• Moderator, Pa Gya Literary Festival, Learning About the Slave Trade through the Arts Panel (Oct 2020)
• MC, NYU Accra Labone Dialogues: Masterclass with Ama Ata Aidoo (Oct 2020)
• MC, NYU Accra Labone Dialogues: Archives & Local Production of Knowledge – The Kofi Ghanaba Archives (Feb 2020)
• Moderator, Conversation with Langlands and Bell at Gallery 1957 (Oct 2019)
• Moderator/Panelist, Celebrity, Complicity and Community: Making Sense of ‘Surviving R Kelly for Webster University Ghana (Mar 2019)
• Interviewer, Pa Gya! Literature Festival (Oct 2019, 2018, 2017)  
• MC, Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art (April 2018)
• Moderator, Conversation on Creative-Friendly Families and the Development of Creative Ecosystems for The Africa Concert (TAC) (Feb 2018)  
• Host, Ghana Climate Innovation Centre Launch (May 2016)  
• Host, Beyond Beginnings: Exploring the Place of Ethnicity in Our Lives: an nKENTEn Public Talk at the Nubuke Foundation (Mar 2015)  
• Host, Blogging Ghana BlogCamp (Apr 2014, 2013, 2012)
• Host, Invisible Borders Talk Party Launch (Jul 2013) 
• Host, Taiye Selasi’s Ghana Must Go Book Launch (Jul 2013)

Other Work

• Voice Actor, Captain Z Cartoon for the Mmofra Children’s Channel (Feb 2019)