The year, 2012 which marks 50 years of the establishment of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana has been earmarked as a celebration of a big milestone with series of performances, lectures and an International conference. The broad theme for the anniversary celebration is: Fifty Years of Performing Arts Education in Ghana: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects. The theme for the two (2) day International Conference, scheduled 19-20 October, 2012 is Creative Arts Pedagogy in the Context of Development Challenges. This theme is supported by a series of sub themes that invite researchers and academics to provoke debate, contest, explore and celebrate the performing arts as a tool for national development.

This conference, explores the need for creative arts education in the midst of pressing development needs, where the tendency is to lay emphasis on those disciplines which are considered as the ‘engine for development’ and the value of the creative enterprise goes unrecognized and pushed to the margins. Of what value are the creative arts, particularly the performing arts to a developing nation? Why must Performing arts education, at all levels of the educational system, be valued? How do developed nations regard performing arts education?
The conference invites papers that address these and other issues in candid, holistic and global manner. The conference is not intended to be a platform for bemoaning how the Performing arts have been marginalized, but rather, as an opportunity for celebrating the resilience and value of the discipline.