Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.3, No.11 Publication Date: Nov. 25, 2016 DoI:10.14738/assrj.311.2249. Adom, D. (2016). Cultural Festival as a Salient Tool for Strategic, Holistic and Sustainable Rural Development in Africa: (The Case of the Opemso) Festival of the Asantes of Ghana. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 3(11) 4-20. Copyright © Society for Science and Education, United Kingdom 4 Cultural Festival as a Salient Tool fcor Strategic, Holistic and Sustainable Rural DevelopmentiIn Africa: The Case of the Opemso) Festival of the Asantes of Ghana Dickson Adom Department of General Art Studies Kwame Nkrumah University of Science of Technology, Ghana Abstract The Opemso) cultural festival is one of the iconic cultural festivals among the Asante ethnic society in Ghana. It is historically and culturally charged, glued to the beginnings of the most vibrant Asante kingdom because of its affiliation to the birth of the founder, Otumfuo Osei Tutu I. Using qualitative approaches, the researcher accentuates the immense contributions of the festival to the cultural, historical, social and economic development of the people of Anyinam and Kokofu in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Semi-structured interviews as well as direct observations were the main instruments for the collection of rich data on the great significance of the festival in the lives of residents and visitors from respondents who were purposively and randomly sampled. The data were qualitatively analyzed using the Data analysis spiral method to interpret the archetypal roles that the Opemso) cultural festival plays in the everyday life of the people. The study contends that if cultural festivals are strategically planned and well tailored in line with developmental policies and ideologies of a society or nation at large, they can be salient tools for the development of rural areas especially in festival- prone nations in Sub-Sahara Africa. Keywords: Cultural Festival, Opemso), Sustainable Development, Holistic, Asante Kingdom INTRODUCTION Cultural festivals are ancient traditional events that played pivotal roles in the development of societies in the past generations especially of the African descent. They have been and still are powerful but latent agents for sustainable development in festival prone communities in the Sub-Sahara region of Africa. Jaeger and Mykletun (2013) posit that cultural festivals play universal roles basically cultural, social and economic in the host community that observes the event. These seemingly ancient roles played by cultural festivals are still significant and even more instrumental in the rural and urban development of modern societies. O’Sullivan and Jackson (2002) reveal about cultural festivals in modern societies that their important roles are now established fact, boosting local economies of particularly the host communities. McClinchey (2008) agrees that today, cultural festivals’ influence has become a central element in developmental affairs. This is due to the cultural, historical, social and economic exchanges that ensue between residents of the host community and visitors. However, it is distressing to know that despite these age-long, pivotal impacts of cultural festivals in societal rapid and sustainable development, many organizations searching for avenues for sustainable forms of development, especially in rural communities either turns a blind eye to its great potentials and/or are ignorant to the weld in developmental affairs. Quinn (2006) is in a league with this argument when he admitted that many scholars, researchers and policy makers have not explored on how festivals can be used as effective vehicles in sustainable development. This notwithstanding, few scholars have sensitized the need to factorize them in developmental agendas of modern societies owing to their indispensable impacts (Crespi & Richards, 2007).