Kwesi Owusu was a Ghanaian writer, filmmaker, and creative entrepreneur.
15 Facts About Kwesi Owusu
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Kwesi Owusu was considered "one of Ghana's leading filmmakers and communications specialists" and was the author of five books.
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From 2022, Owusu hosted the African Dawn podcast, covering "untold stories" from Africa's cultural history as well as current trends in the arts world.
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Kwesi Owusu was born in Sekondi, Gold Coast, in the mid-1950s.
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Kwesi Owusu attended Adisadel College, Cape Coast, going on to do postgraduate studies in Political Science and Pre Colonial African Social Formations at the London School of Economics.
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In 1986, Kwesi Owusu published the book The Struggle for Black Arts in Britain, followed in 1987 by Behind the Masquerade, written with Jacob Ross, on the Notting Hill Carnival.
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Kwesi Owusu edited Storms of the Heart: An Anthology of Black Arts and Culture and Black British Culture and Society: A Text Reader in 2000.
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In 2012, Kwesi Owusu published Ghana Highlife Music, co-authored with African music specialist Florent Mazzoleni.
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Kwesi Owusu's film career began in the 1980s, when he was an apprentice producer and director with Channel 4's Cinema Action.
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Kwesi Owusu was part of a consortium, called Black Triangle, that bought the Electric Cinema, Notting Hill, in London's Portobello Road, and he had responsibility for running the cinema, with partners in the consortium representing other branches of the black media: Val McCalla from Voice Communications Group and Neil Kenlock from Choice FM radio.
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Kwesi Owusu was on the editorial board of Artrage magazine, was a research associate of the University of Cambridge's African Studies Centre, and taught at universities in the UK and the US.
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Kwesi Owusu was head of the Africa Initiative of the effective Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt cancellation for the poorest countries.
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Kwesi Owusu co-produced the High Vibes Music Festival, launched in 2009, that was described as "Accra's most exciting music festival" and featured leading musicians from the region such as Tony Allen, Manou Gallo, Reggie Rockstone, Yaa Pono, Wulomei, Kwame Yeboah, and Gyedu-Blay Ambolley.
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In 2018, Kwesi Owusu was appointed Director of the School of Creative Arts at the African University College of Communications in Accra, Ghana.
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In 2022, Kwesi Owusu launched the African Dawn podcast, "dedicated to telling untold stories from Africa".