George Quaye (GQ) has advised players in the creative arts industry to be artful in marketing their programmes and artworks if they want to stay and thrive in business.

The multidisciplinay artist said this, observing patrons could “easily forgo the arts” since they do not find it essential to biological life, and do not place it at the top of their priorities. 

He spoke during the inaugural Annual Conference of the Performing Arts (ACPA) 2024, organised and hosted by the National Theatre, Accra, Wednesday, October 2.

George Quaye, a star playwright, radio personality, actor, talent manager, and creative entrepreneur pushed back when a panelist said art could be marketed in the same way as foodstuffs.

Considering Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, he argued arts becomes tricky to sell since “you’re competing with many other needs”.

Food verses art

“If I want to buy tomatoes and the price escalates from GHS100 per box to GHS1000, I have to make one of three decisions: I’m not going to use tomatoes for my stew, I’m not going to make stew at all or I’ll be forced to buy the tomatoes,” the Image Bureau founder and CEO said.

“However, if I want to come watch a play, attend a music concert, or go see an art gallery, and I know the ticket is selling for GHS100 and all of a sudden, say the night before, it escalated to GHS1000, I’ll stay at home. You can easily forgo the art. That instantly tells you it requires a certain kind of marketing that’s totally different from how you’d market certain products.”

Fuel verses art

“So if you put marketing of arts on the same pedestal as you’d market fuel, for instance – fuel prices go up every day but we’re still driving on the roads. We can’t do anything about it. But you can tell yourself, ‘Since Rapperholic tickets are selling for GHS500 this year when it was GHS300 last year, I’m not going’. You can easily make that choice and it doesn’t do anything [untoward] to you,” George Quaye said.

Resolution

“It doesn’t mean people don’t appreciate art, it [only] means we need to understand and appreciate the fact that we cannot sell the arts the same way as other products are sold. It needs a certain kind of thinking, orientation and appreciation to understand the target you’re talking to, [and that] you’re competing with many other needs…”

GQ emphasised: “Once you understand this, you can properly position your art selling or marketing.”

The 2024 ACPA was themed: We Have Value – Building Bridges to Success.