GH¢100,000 To Be Won In Ghana Music Awards 2012

Recharged Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) festival has budgeted an unprecedented GH¢100,000 for winners of this year’s awards whose climax has been scheduled to come off on April 14 in Accra.

Winners in the 28 competitive categories according to organisers, Charterhouse, will walk away with GH¢3,000 each for their career enhancement and the ultimate, Artiste of the Year winner will take home GH¢10,000. This represents the highest amount ever awarded in the festival’s 13 year history.

At the launch of VGMA at the Golden Tulip in Accra last Saturday, Mrs. Theresa Ayoade, Executive Director of Charterhouse disclosed that the festival’s programme, besides the launch, will comply an unveiling of nominees event, concerts in Takoradi and Kumasi, club parties, industry awards night, the main awards and a wrap- up party.

On the VGMA Festival calendar, Mrs Ayoade remarked that, “this year we are taking the VGMAs to the people. With the theme “Recharged; for the love of music,” we aim to deliver a well-rounded music experience from the launch to the main event itself.”

Also unveiled at the launch were details of the VGMA Foundation, a new addition to the festival that Vodafone has brought on board with the new sponsorship package which is aimed at boosting the industry by giving local artistes the support needed to build their music career and profiles both locally and internationally.

The launch was a very colourful affair with a dominant red and white decor representing the colours of the new sponsors of the award, Vodafone. It attracted a crème of Ghana’s showbiz industry-artistes, producers, music consumers, promoters, sponsors and media.

The evening of mutton light soup, canapés and wine, witnessed performances by top musicians such as Gifty Osei, Efya, Jayso, Guru, Gasmilla and a host of others all backed by the talented Patch Bay band,with spontaneous appearances by Amandzeba, Bessa Simmons, Paulina Oduro and Obuor.

Uche Ofodile, Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone expressed her company’s delight in taking over the sponsorship of the awards and said that “ we recognise that Ghanaian artistes need support beyond the recognition they receive with the Music Awards.

The idea of the Foundation is to give them the opportunity to build on their success at the awards by giving them the knowledge and business acumen to deliver more ambitious productions and build larger audiences.

“By associating the Foundation with a prestigious award festival such as the VGMAs, we hope to give the Ghanaian music and entertainment industry a boost in Africa and the rest of the world.” The VGMA Foundation will be launched after the main awards night of the Festival.