Ile Ife Films
The Arthur Hall Collection
754 Mount Ephraim Road
Searsport, Maine 04974
207-548-2445
Incorporated in 1994
Nonprofit, tax exempt, 501(c)(3) organization
Dedicated to the arts and education
Ile Ife Films
The Arthur Hall Collection
754 Mount Ephraim Road
Searsport, Maine 04974
207-548-2445
Incorporated in 1994
Nonprofit, tax exempt, 501(c)(3) organization
Dedicated to the arts and education
Nana Korantema Ayeboafo, a newly elected member of the board and our new artistic
director, is the head of the Akan spiritual order in North America, the Akomfohene, a title
achieved only after decades of careful training and spiritual dedication. In 1968, she
joined Arthur Hall at the very inception of the Ile Ife Center in North Philadelphia.
At Ile Ife she became a master drummer, a rarity for a woman, and eventually Arthur named
her to be his music director. Nana traveled with Arthur on the Dance Ensemble's historic
1974 tour of Ghana, during which they were received by Nana Okomfohene Akua Oparebea, the
great matriarch of the Akan tradition. Nana Oparebea encouraged Arthur and Nana Korantema
to establish an Akan Shrine in Philadelphia. Three years later, the Asona Aberade Shrine
became the first traditional African shrine to be recognized by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, and Nana Korantema has dutifully maintained it to this day. In 1999,
Nana launched StarSpirit International, Inc., a non-sectarian global cultural arts,
health education, and economic development initiative of the shrine. Nana has developed
an international reputation as a performing artist and as a teacher of drumming and of the
cultural arts. In recognition of her work, she recently received a prestigious 2008 Pew
Fellowship in the Arts. She writes, "Arthur was my first mentor. He gave me an ever so
rich experience of identity development, reclamation of African heritage, and intensive
training in dance and drumming. Arthur Hall and Nana Oparebea have inspired me to do
what I can to ensure the continuing dissemination of ancient African cultural traditions,
traditions that hold the power to heal, transform, and restore, traditions to which both
my two great mentors devoted their lives. With these goals in my heart, I am honored now
to be the artistic director of Ile Ife Films and the Arthur Hall Collection."
