Nana Ofosuaa Ayim, a well-known writer, filmmaker, and arts historian who is also the founder of the ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge, has been awarded the ‘Woman of the Year’ in Cultural Arts Award.

She got the award on Sunday night, during a ceremony honoring a number of female leaders who have had a major effect on Ghanaian society.

Nana Ofosuaa Ayim has earned a slew of accolades in recent years, including Woman of the Year.

Okayafrica called her one of the 12 African women creating history in 2016 and one of the 100 women of 2020.

She was also named one of Apollo’s ’40 under 40,’ one of The Africa Report’s 50 African Trailblazers, and a Quartz Africa Innovator in 2017.

She was also honored by LACMA with the 2015 Art & Technology Award and the 2016 AIR Award.

The event recognized Abena Osei-Poku, the MD of Absa Bank Ghana, Doreen Andoh of the Multimedia Group, Shirley A. Botchway, the Foreign Affairs Minister, actress Akofa Edjeani, and musician Becca.

The honorees were chosen by a savvy panel of achievers who applied clear and objective criteria to ensure that the final list included the most deserving women in diverse areas.

Nana Ofosuaa Ayim’s biography

Nana Ofosuaa Ayim is the founder of the ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge and is a writer, filmmaker, and art historian. She is the founder of the Pan-African Cultural Encyclopaedia, the Mobile Museums Project, and the curator of Ghana’s first pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Her debut novel, The God Child, was released by Bloomsbury in 2019 and Penguin in German in 2021.

She has created award-winning videos for Tate Modern, LACMA, and The New Museum, among others. She is a lecturer at the Architectural Association in London, where she teaches a history and theory course.

She received the Art & Technology Award from LACMA in 2015; the 2016 AIR Award, which seeks to honor and celebrate extraordinary African artists who are committed to producing provocative, innovative, and socially-engaged work; a 2018 Soros Arts Fellowship; and was appointed to the Advisory Council of Oxford University’s Cultural Programming.

She is presently serving as an unpaid Special Advisor on Museums and Cultural Heritage to Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, where she is monitoring efforts to reform the museum system.

Her major focus is how to make museums relevant to all communities in Ghana, not just a select few, and to transform them into spaces where Ghanaians can see themselves reflected and have their views heard.

She’s traveled the length and width of the nation, speaking with fisherman, weavers, charcoal merchants, farmers, professors, and attorneys, among others, about what they want to see and do.

This will be depicted in a film that will be on Ghanaian television soon. She’s also assembled a team of legal, financial, and structural specialists to examine the present museum environment and propose reforms to establish museums that are appropriate for Ghana.

The study may be seen at www.ghanaheritagefuture.com.

On her website, www.nanaoforiattaayim.com, on Instagram @nanaoforiattaayim, on Twitter @OforiattaAyim, and on Facebook @nanaoayim, you can keep up with her activities.