Mantse Aryeequaye, the founder of the Chale Wote Street Art Festival, has alleged that the festival was ignored by Ghanaians until around 2015.
According to him, up until 2015, most of the articles that were written for the street festival were done by non-Ghanaians because they didn’t have money for advertising.
Speaking in an interview on 3FM, monitored by 1Family Radio, Mantse stated that Ghanaians had some misconceptions about the festival since its inception in 2011, therefore it didn’t gain much popularity until four years later.
“We had to create our own outlet because, when we started Chale Wote, we didn’t have enough money for advertising. I remember we walked into one of the media houses and got a rate card, and I came to tell my people that if we should go through this channel, this thing would not happen. So, we used social media heavily.’’
“There was a lot of discontent about it. People were thumbing their noses at it when you could just ask questions because clearly, people understand, and up until now, people still don’t get what Chale Wote is all about thoroughly,’’ he said.
“When something is happening in your community and you do not understand it and the people are not far away—some who even have proximity to the event—you just ask questions. Let’s be more forward and imaginative in how we perceive things that we supposedly find unusual in our community,’’ he admonished.
Source: 1Familyradio