As the 2026 FIFA World Cup captures global attention and nations across continents aggressively position themselves to leverage the world’s largest sporting event as an economic and cultural springboard, Ghana’s creative industry is increasingly asking a difficult and consequential question: has the country’s flagship cultural tourism initiative, the Black Star Experience, failed to capitalize on what may have been one of the greatest international promotional opportunities in Ghana’s contemporary history?
The question has gained urgency amid growing concern among artists, tourism professionals, cultural practitioners and creative entrepreneurs that Ghana may have lost valuable time in transforming the unprecedented global visibility generated by the World Cup into a strategic campaign for tourism promotion, cultural diplomacy and economic development. Fourteen months after the official launch of the Black Star Experience by President John Dramani Mahama at the Black Star Square on May 1, 2025, many stakeholders argue that the initiative’s ambitious vision remains largely invisible to the public and insufficiently integrated into Ghana’s broader international branding agenda.
The Black Star Experience was unveiled with considerable national anticipation and international interest. Conceived as a transformative cultural and tourism initiative, the programme was intended to reposition Ghana as Africa’s premier destination for cultural heritage, creative arts, entertainment, gastronomy and diaspora engagement. At its core was the aspiration to create a year round celebration of Ghanaian identity through seven interconnected pillars comprising cinema, music, cuisine, aesthetics, fashion, literature and heritage.
However, as the world increasingly focuses its attention on the global football spectacle unfolding across North America, critics within Ghana’s creative ecosystem contend that the country has yet to effectively activate these pillars in a manner capable of attracting international audiences, generating tourism revenues and enhancing Ghana’s global cultural influence.
Communications strategist and tourism consultant Francis Doku argues that the Black Star Experience Secretariat should have assumed a leading role in coordinating a comprehensive national campaign centered around tourism, arts, culture and Brand Ghana promotion in anticipation of the World Cup. According to him, countries across the globe have long recognized that major sporting events provide unparalleled opportunities for cultural diplomacy and destination marketing, making Ghana’s apparent absence from this global conversation increasingly concerning.
The criticism becomes even more pointed when viewed against the broader international context. Nations participating in and surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup have invested heavily in cultural showcases, tourism activation campaigns and strategic branding exercises designed to attract visitors and investment. Many industry observers believe Ghana, with its globally recognized cultural heritage and strong football identity, was uniquely positioned to benefit from this moment.
Arts and culture journalist Kwame Dadzie has emerged as one of the initiative’s most vocal critics, arguing that public expectations generated by the launch have not been matched by visible implementation.
“Fourteen months after the launch, Ghana is yet to experience the Black Star. The initiative was built around seven pillars comprising cinema, music, cuisine, aesthetics, fashion, literature and heritage. The question is where are they? Which of these pillars has been activated in a way that the public can see and appreciate?” he asked.
For Dadzie and many others within the creative sector, the absence of visible activity has become increasingly difficult to ignore.
“The World Cup should have been a major opportunity to project Ghana to the world through culture and tourism. Other countries are already positioning themselves to benefit from the global attention. We have woefully failed to capitalize on this moment to advance our Experience Ghana agenda. This is not the Black Star Experience we were promised. Some of us are losing patience and hope in the concept. The silence surrounding the initiative is deeply troubling.”
These concerns reflect broader anxieties within Ghana’s creative economy regarding the country’s ability to convert its substantial cultural assets into measurable economic outcomes. Despite possessing internationally recognized strengths in music, fashion, heritage tourism, cuisine and diasporic engagement, Ghana has historically struggled to institutionalize and sustain large scale cultural branding projects capable of competing globally.
Popular disc jockey, entertainment entrepreneur and industry stakeholder DJ Ashmen echoed similar sentiments, warning that prolonged inactivity risks undermining public confidence in what many initially viewed as one of the country’s most promising cultural policy initiatives.
“The concept itself remains one of the most exciting cultural policy initiatives Ghana has introduced in many years. However, an idea, regardless of how visionary it may be, cannot generate impact by itself. Fourteen months after its introduction, stakeholders should not still be asking what exactly is happening.”
He stressed that public engagement constitutes the foundation of any successful cultural initiative.
“If the Black Star Experience is intended to become a year round celebration of Ghanaian culture, then citizens and visitors alike must be able to see it, experience it and participate in it. Visibility matters. Public activation matters. The danger is that the initiative could eventually be perceived as another ambitious national concept that failed to progress beyond its ceremonial launch.”
The concerns raised by industry stakeholders acquire even greater significance when viewed through the lens of the global experience economy, which has emerged as one of the fastest growing sectors of international tourism. Countries increasingly compete not only through infrastructure and natural resources but through cultural experiences, heritage storytelling and creative industries. Ghana’s successful “Year of Return” initiative demonstrated the enormous potential of cultural tourism as an economic growth strategy, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and attracting unprecedented international attention.
Against this backdrop, many observers argue that the Black Star Experience represented an opportunity to institutionalize and expand upon that success.
Responding to these criticisms, Black Star Experience Coordinator and renowned musician Rex Owusu Marfo, popularly known as Rex Omar, has attributed the initiative’s slow implementation primarily to budgetary constraints.
Speaking previously on Joy FM’s Showbiz A to Z programme, Rex Omar explained that the Secretariat was established after the approval of Ghana’s 2025 national budget, leaving the initiative without dedicated financial allocations during its formative year.
“Most of our planned projects could not be implemented because there was no dedicated budget allocation for the Secretariat. We came into existence after the national budget had already been presented and approved. As an office operating under the Presidency, every activity required authorization and that naturally constrained what we were able to accomplish.”
According to Rex Omar, however, the period was not entirely unproductive. He argued that 2025 was largely devoted to institutional preparation, partnership building and strategic planning.
“We utilized the period to establish partnerships, negotiate memoranda of understanding and create the institutional structures required for implementation. Programmes such as Creative Connect Afrika and Taste the Culture formed part of this preparatory process.”
He further disclosed that the Secretariat had submitted and successfully defended its budget proposal for 2026 and expressed confidence that the initiative would soon transition from planning to execution.
“We have completed the foundational work. Once the necessary funding becomes available, Ghanaians will begin to witness the full realization of the vision.”
Yet for many within Ghana’s creative and tourism industries, this explanation has generated as many questions as answers. Critics argue that effective strategic planning should have anticipated funding requirements and secured institutional support before the official launch of a project intended to redefine Ghana’s global cultural positioning.
The broader historical significance of this debate extends beyond the future of the Black Star Experience itself. It reflects a larger national conversation about how Ghana intends to compete in an increasingly experience driven global economy where culture, creativity, heritage and storytelling have become major instruments of economic growth, international influence and national branding.
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup continues to command worldwide attention, the question confronting Ghana is no longer merely whether the Black Star Experience has been delayed. Rather, it is whether the country can still transform an ambitious cultural vision into a tangible national movement before one of the greatest opportunities for global exposure passes permanently into history.
