Celebrating the Arts: National Theatre Of Ghana marks World Poetry Day, World Theatre Day And World Dance Day

World Poetry Day, World Theatre Day and World Dance Day are special opportunities to celebrate the transformative power of the Arts. The National Theatre is gearing up to celebrate these three significance event in the world of Arts.

The celebration begins with World Poetry Day 2025, which is observed annually on the 21st of March and was established by UNESCO in 1999. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Poetry for Peace and Unity”. This theme highlights poetry’s transformative role in promoting peace, creativity and inclusion. The purpose is to celebrate poetry, promote linguistic diversity and encourage creative expression worldwide.

The National Theatre of Ghana will this year celebrate the occasion with selective schools in the Accra municipal, including Osu, Saint Peters R /C, Salem Basic and Presbyterian cluster of schools.

The Theatre will collaborate with guest seasoned poets to talk to students on: Poetry and its significance, Poetry reading and recitals. Furthermore, poetry writing competitions will also be held where students can submit their original poems.

The National Theatre’s objective is to encourage students to think creatively about peace and unity, to express their thoughts and feelings about peace and unity in Ghana through poetry, as means of promoting creativity, critical thinking,  understanding and positive change.

The theme for World Theatre Day 2025 is “Theatre and a Culture of Peace”. The National Theatre will celebrate this occasion with the Senior Correctional Home (Borstal Home). The aim is to promote a culture of peace, rehabilitation and social reintegration among the correctional home inmates through theatre activities.

The National Theatre represented by one of its resident group, The National Drama Company will stage a play that promotes peace, tolerance and non-violence.

The company will also engage the inmates on a discussion on scripts writing, and stage activity workshop.

World Theatre Day was established by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) in 1962. This day promotes the art form of theatre, raises theatre community to showcase their work.

April 29th marks World Dance Day, a celebration of the universal language of dance. This year, the National Theatre is shining a spotlight on the therapeutic benefits of dance for inmates at the Accra Psychiatrist Hospital. Celebrating World Dance Day with inmates of the psychiatrist hospital will provide a unique opportunity to promote social cohesion, self-expression and rehabilitation aligning with the World Dance Day theme “Dance and Social Cohesion”.

The National Dance Company, one of the resident group of the National Theatre will conduct dance therapy session, host a dance workshop to teach various styles of healing through movements and present a dance performances.

Through dance activities, inmates will experience the therapeutic benefits of dance, improving their mental and physical well-being.