The King of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and his wife, Lady Julia, will on May 13, 2026, decorate eight distinguished artists with laurels at the second edition of the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Arts Awards.
The awards event is scheduled to take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Manhyia Palace and will recognise their contribution to local, national, and international arts.
Expected at the event are about 10 ambassadors and high commissioners as well as 15 heads of United Nations agencies and other international development organizations.
Around 500 guests are also expected to grace the event from across the country, with the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Hon. Dzifa Gomashie, as the guest of honour.
The awards scheme was instituted by the Manhyia Palace in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Justice and Repair.
Pre-Awards
Before the event, the laureates will be hosted to a cocktail reception by Lady Julia, the Chief Patron of the Awards Scheme.
This will be used to formally welcome them to Kumasi.
Laureates
The artists to be honoured are the founder of the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art, Red Clay, and Nkrumah Volini in Tamale, Ibrahim Mahama; installation artist and painter based in New York, Yaw Owusu; painter Victor Butler; and painter Larry Otoo.
The rest are portrait artist Afia Prempeh; the first contemporary artist from Seychelles, Leon Radegonde; African Curator at the British Museum, Julie Hudson; and curator Osei Bonsu.
Addressing the press ahead of the event, the Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Ivor Agyeman-Dua, said the laureates have defined art for the current generation of creative artists.
He said their selection was merit-based, with recommendations from a jury that independently assessed their works.
He noted that the laureates include three non-Ghanaians due to the internationalisation of the programme.
“The reason why they are not Ghanaians is because of our internationalisation of programmes and the MoUs we have signed with institutions beyond this country, basically, to look into how to promote Pan-African arts,” he said.
“We’ve signed an MoU with Seychelles, we’ve done a similar one with Eswatini, and we’ve almost completed another one with Rwanda. So with time, we will be giving awards to some individuals from these countries who have distinguished themselves.”
Story by Hajara Fuseini
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Source:
opemsuo.com