A little over a week ago, Accra witnessed another exciting edition of the biannual MESH Creative Confab, held at the British Council. It was an event that brought together diverse creative practitioners, professionals and aspiring alike, as well as creativity enthusiasts under one roof to meet, explore and share their works, projects and services. This event which is the largest creative gathering of its kind serves as a platform for business networking, market expansion, inspiration and collaboration amongst creatives.
The event kicked off with an Expo where exhibitors had the opportunity to showcase their products and services with the objective of business networking and market expansion. It also provided a platform to engage and receive feedback. This edition saw quite an impressive array of creative start-ups venturing into the digital technologies space with 3D Craft Ghana introducing participants to the world of 3D printing, Nubian VR taking participants into a new world of possibilities with virtual reality and Leti Arts opening participants up to their exciting Africa inspired games for mobile and PC.
From the world of fashion, beauty and accessories, the expo also featured WEAR Ghana who exhibited their latest collection of chic Ghanain fashion items, Yes Lord Brand displayed their Christian message inspired t-shirt art along with locally manufactured socks from Chale Socks. Students from Radford University presented a very impressive and diverse exhibition ranging from fashion, graphic design to model building and publishing projects. The sweet fragrance of Naya Naturalsâ body butter, soaps and oils could not be missed as you walked through expo. And as expected, Accra We Dey Podcast was there to interact with participants concerning the creativity, the event among other topics. The Expo run throughout the duration of the event from 9:00am till 6:00pm.
The second session of the event witnessed keynote presentations from Ibrahim Mahama (artist and lecturer, KNUST) , Nana K. Duah (branding expert, oxygen) and Nana Akuah Birmeh (Architect, archxenus). This was a very interractive session between speakers and participants.
Ace Spoken word artist Rhyme Sonny then treated the participants to a performance filled with rhymes as usual and issues that keeps the mind thinking while engaging the ausience in a very unique way. We were graced once again, with the presence of Hon. Dzifa Gomashie, Deputy Minister for Culture, Tourism and Creative Arts who has always been of immense help and support to MESH Ghana. In her brief address to the gathering, she touched on the importance of supporting each other as creatives if we want to build a thriving industry and also urged creatives to use their talents and skills to promote what is truly Ghanaian above all else.
The panel discussion which was moderated by Kobina Graham (lecturer, Ashesi University) hosted Abraham Adjetey, CEO of Ghana Music Rights Organization, GHAMRO and photographer Nii Nai Kwade who gave an insight into the issues of copy rights and intellectual property rights in Ghana. Mr Adjetey advised creatives especially in the visual industries such as photographers, graphic designers, artists, and filmmakers etc. to take a cue from GHAMRO and form meaningful organization or associations that will more effectively champion the interests of its members and eschew the individualism that is the status quo.
Creative Portfolio Presentations witnessed very exciting and stimulating presentations from creatives such as poet Koo Kumi, Architects Kuukuah Manful and Emmanuel Ofori Sarpong from Sociarchi, 3D artists Mendez Clakson and Khaleb Odartey. The screening of OBL Studiousâ âPleliâ, Studio Reelsâ âthree nights agoâ and Abstrakteâs collection of films were the highlight of the session while the 2015 Â âUnsungâ award winner of the Ghana Music Awards and two time AFRIMA nominee, Dark Suburb Alternative Rock Band climaxed the event with their sintilating accoustic performanceâ
The day ended with a live creative session where award winning artist Bright Ackwerh was behind a canvas painting live to the participants. Grafitti artist Mohammed Awudu demonstrated live graffiti painting and Kwando Frimpong of Quaphryma Urban Illustrations demonstrated 3D modelling live. Live photography and photo retouching was conducted by Team black image studious and D.J Isaac Cool was on the mixer. There was an open mic session which saw the likes of poets Rhyme Sonny, Natty Ogli, Bakomora, Ulaga and freestyle rapper D.Gem.
 Renowned poet and Theatre Director Chieff Moomen was the master of ceremony aided by events MC Kwesi Kwatia. In attendance were over 500 participants including with special guests, His Excellency Hans Docter (Ambassador to the Royal Kingdom of Netherlands), Caecilia Nijgers (Deputy head of Missions, Netherlands Embassy), Sarah Guesten-Marr (Artist and Founder of Gallery GM, North London), ETV Ghana, among others.
The atmosphere during the event was a mix of astonishment, fascination, shock, excitement, disbelief, all bottled up into one, as participants were treated to a wide array of awesome works by Ghanaian creatives that most could hardly believe could come out of this country. One could not help but notice the very honest interactions, feedback and networking among participants. We were glad to find many creatives already exchanging contacts and talking about the great things they will do together in collaboration.
We at MESH Ghana are very grateful to have hosted another very successful event and we sincerely thank our speakers, everyone who attended, participated, volunteered, publicized and contributed in any small way to make this the great event that it was.
Special thanks to the British Council for the Venue and all our media, event and publicity partners, ETV Ghana, Y107.9FM, Acrilex Ghana, GHAMRO, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, AmeyawDebrah.com, CitiFM, Africrizing.org, PulseGH, CediStreeGH, Egotickets.com, EventLab Gh, Accra We Dey podcast and StartupGh.
To see all the photos from the event follow this link https://meshgh.com/2016/05/31/photo-gallery-mesh-creative-confab-may-2016-a-creative-gathering/
  What happened at MESH Creative Confab May, 2016 A little over a week ago, Accra witnessed another exciting edition of the biannual MESH Creative Confab, held at the British Council.
