ABSTRACT
Collaborating to find creative solutions to global challenges related to environment, education and social cohesion is central to the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, scholarship on academia and industry connections in the performing arts sector in Ghana and their importance for the SDGs has not received due recognition and attention. The study used a qualitative case study approach to interrogate the nature, challenges and opportunities for feedback interactions between the higher educational institutions (HEIs) and the cultural and creative arts institutions (CCIs) in Ghana. Key data collected included interviews, documents and desktop archives. Findings from the analysis illustrated highly informal, individual-initiated collaborations in the form of internships, consultancies, writing forums, workshops and community development projects. These transcended the CCIs to encapsulate other social institutions like the church, embassies, schools and security services. Despite the bottle-neck challenges, actors maximised collaborations for sustainable quality education, economic growth, sustainable cities and communities. The rippling effects of existing challenges on these sustainable practices call for the creation and operation of functional third spaces where actors can explore embodied knowledge for collective good and reduce issues of power play created by differences and diversity.
