Nurturing, empowering, and promoting Ghanaian and West African performing artists with sustainable careers.

Okaidja Afroso | Makola Performing Arts Foundation

Makola Performing Arts Foundation is a US-based nonprofit led by Okaidja Afroso that seeks to enhance cultural experiences for artists, audiences, and global communities through performances, workshops, seminars, and mentorships. Okaidja’s core objective is to engage communities through the powerful force of music and dance and uplift the important role of the performing arts in Ghana and the US.   Tim Wilson is honored to serve on the board of Makola Performing Arts Foundation and as a strategic advisor and development consultant to the initiative.

Okaidja Afroso weaves together cross-cultural influences to create hypnotic sonic landscapes. A multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and dancer, Afroso hails from a family of musicians and storytellers from the fishing village of Kokrobite on Ghana’s west coast. His career started at 19 as a principal dancer with the Ghana Dance Ensemble, and he later worked as a traditional dancer and musician with Okropong, led by the late worldbeat master Obo Addy.

In his twenty-five years of touring and performing internationally, Okaidja has performed in diverse venues spanning the globe—from tiny fishing villages in the Canadian Arctic to the Kennedy Center in New York City.  He has also spent countless hours in classrooms across the US, teaching children about Ghanaian culture through his educational outreach programs.