Panafest Ghana

The Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival, commonly known as PANAFEST, is a bi-annual festival that was mooted by the late Efua Sutherl and scheduled to hold on July 25 - August 3, 2026, at Cape Coast, Elmina, Ghana. 

Panafest Ghana celebrates people of Africa and Africans in the Diaspora through art, culture, music, dance, and theatre.

Aside from celebrating Africans, the sole aim of putting this festival in place is to promote understanding, peace, and unity among all African people and their great Diaspora.

The idea is to enhance the unity and development of the continent of Africa; it will also showcase the pomp and pageantry of Ghana’s traditional rulers, dressed in rich Kente cloths and adorned in glittering gold jewelry.

The festival will help the attendees to discover the African rhythm in them as they dance to the beat of drums, and it will also create the opportunity for you to enshrine their place in history by signing the Returnees Memorial Wall.

The 2024 edition will be celebrating the 185th anniversary of full legal emancipation in the British Empire.

And the highlights usually include:

• Performances of theatre, dance, music, and poetry
• Naming ceremony (prior registration required)
• Dance workshop
• Slave march re-enactment
• Candlelight vigil and prayers at Cape Coast Castle
• Emancipation Day celebration in Assin Manso
• Closing concert at the National Theater in Accra.

When & Location

Contact