The CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival is an alternative platform that brings art, music, dance and performance out of the galleries and onto the streets of James Town, Accra.
The first festival took place in July 2011, following a series of discussions about creating DIY [do-it‑yourself] community projects by participants at our Talk Party Series. Our partners for the festival include Redd Kat Pictures, Dandano, Mumble, Chaka Orleans Heritage and Gamashie Development Agency.
Our vision is to cultivate a wider audience for the arts in West Africa by breaking creative boundaries and using art as a viable form to rejuvenate public spaces. The CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival challenges both artists and community-based audiences to connect through art.
The festival includes street painting, graffiti murals, photo exhibitions, interactive installations, a food and fashion marketplace, live street performances, extreme sports, African Cinema pavilion, street boxing, a fashion parade, a music block party, design labs and much more.
More than 200 Ghana-based and international artists take part in the event every year.
In 2018, over 100,000 people attended CHALE WOTE.
For 2019, it is going to be bigger and better as many lessons have been learnt concerning security and organization.
The people of James Town and surrounding areas like Sempe, Ussher Town, Bukom, Korle Gonno, Chorkor and Osu have embraced the festival and are supporting very well.
The event had boasted tourism and business as many people have got something to do.
For boxing, it is featuring prominently at the usual place which is now a tourism information center, near the popular landmark, the Light house.
James Town has produced many sportsmen and women with majority of the boxers and footballers with great skill and talent.
From Sammy Heywood Okine