The challenges notwithstanding, players in the culture sector showed their ingenuity in the past year, holding regular and new events.
It was a mixed grill for the culture and creative industry in 2022, with players also feeling the financial squeeze in the country. The beat went on, nonetheless, with regular and new activities happening. We present some of the standout events of the past year.
UNWTO Conference
Though the renovation of the National Theatre is still ongoing, the national edifice hosted the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Conference in November. It was themed ‘Linking Tourism, Culture and Creative Industries: Pathways to Recovery and Inclusive Development’ and brought together leaders and some of Africa’s best creative minds around a shared vision for advancing sustainable development and opportunity across the continent. It also celebrated the close ties between tourism and culture. UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili told delegates at the opening: “The fortunes of tourism and culture are closely linked. When one thrives, the other does too.”
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo remarked about Nigeria’s diversification efforts: “Our desire to diversify our economy and explore other sustainable sources of revenue has led us to rank the tourism, culture and the creative sector among the priority sectors of the economy. Specifically, tourism has been recognised for its resilience and dynamism.”
US Supports Nigerian arts.
In the past year, the Government of the United States, through its US Mission in Nigeria, supported the country’s culture with several interventions. It launched the 2022 Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) project to train Nigerian museum professionals in wood conservation, documentation, and storage.
In collaboration with the American Business Council, the US Mission also hosted the second edition of its intellectual property (IP) symposium on “Intellectual Property and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future,” the theme for World IP Day 2022.
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments and the Trust for African Rock Art, the US Mission launched a unique travelling exhibition, ‘The Ancient Rock Art of Nigeria’. The show sought to raise awareness of preserving Nigerian rock art — a cultural treasure at risk. The Mission also supported the documentation of the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove and the preservation of the Busanyin Shrine.
PAWA Conference
Sixty years after the landmark Conference of African Writers of English Expression held at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, the second Pan-African writers’ happened at the University of Ibadan in June. It was jointly organised by the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) and Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) with ‘Literature Since Makerere 1962: The African Writers’ Pan-African Agenda for Peace, Security and Cultural Development’ as its theme. It featured writers, academics and diplomats from 40 African countries.
Busy People’s poet
2022 was an active year for the ‘Poet of the Marketplace’, Professor NiyiOsundare, who regularly shuttled between Nigeria and the US. His laurels began rolling in earlier in the year when ‘World Poetry’, a magazine of the World Poetry Movement, chose him as the cover poet and headliner for its 5th edition. Executive Deputy Secretary-General of China’s Boao International Poetry Festival and deputy editor-in-chief of ‘World Poetry’, Cao Shui, announced Osundare’s selection on January 15. With his selection, Professor Osundare became the first African poet to be so honoured by the international poetry magazine.
He followed that up with a well-attended reading from his latest collection of poems, ‘GREEN: Sighs of Our Ailing Planet,’ on Sunday, February 20, at Roving Heights Bookstores, Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and Roving Heights Bookstores organised it. This year’s edition of the Niyi Osundare International Poetry Festival themed ‘Pandemic, Lockdown and The Poet’ happened in Ado-Ekiti in June. Later in September, ‘Bridge across the Seas’, a new 240-page book containing the Korean translation of a selection of his poems, was released. On December 7, he delivered the Nigerian National Merit Award Winner’s lecture entitled ‘Poetry and the Human Voice’ in Abuja. The 75-year-old poet, part of the Ibadan June conference, topped it off with a reading organised by a group of literary bodies the following day.
Barry Colloquim
The inaugural Sikiru Ayinde Barrister colloquium on March 16 at Radisson Blu, Ikeja GRA, Lagos witnessed a packed house that celebrated the life, achievements and legacies of the man christened Sikiru Ayinde Ololade Balogun by his parents but whom fans called Barrister, Alhaji Agba, Barusati and Barry.
It was a case of who was not in attendance as major and upcoming players in entertainment and intellectual circles converged to honour the ace musician who passed in 2010 at the event. Juju musician turned cleric Dr Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, Barrister’s bosom friend, Alhaji Kollington Ayinla, the event’s chief organiser, K1 Ultimate, Pasuma, Taiye Currency, Atawewe, Malaika, Barry Jhay, Kolade Onanuga, actor Taiwo Hassan (Ogogo) were among those present. Fittingly, some musicians, including Currency, 9ice, Pasuma, Atawewe and Barry Jhay, Barrister’s son, all sang his songs at the occasion.
K1 De Ultimate jointly organised the session in partnership with the Isolo Local Council Development Area, The Fuji Musician Association of Nigeria (FUMAN), FUJI: A Opera, Supa Komando, The Temple Management Company and Goldmyne TV.
Guest Artists Space
Artist Yinka Shonibare (CBE) gave a boost to people working in contemporary art, design, architecture, agriculture, and ecology with the Guest Artists Space (GAS) Foundation in the outgone year. Located in Oniru, Lagos, and Ijebu, the GAS has been giving artists space and resources to research, experiment, share, educate and develop their work.
“When you provide space for artists, they don’t have to think about paying their rent. They have more time to create their work, and you inevitably get better quality of work because they have time. So, when you give them space and somewhere to stay, they can focus and do research. That essentially is what this residency does. That’s the opportunity I’m trying to provide here,” the UK-based artist said of its establishment back in February.
The Year of Return
On Tuesday, December 20, Germany returned 22 Benin bronzes to Nigeria at a ceremony in Abuja. The 22 were part of the over 1000 in German public museums and which the country had legally transferred to Nigeria in July.
The Abuja ceremony was one of the dividends of the National Campaign for the Restitution/Return of Nigeria’s antiquities Nigeria launched in 2019. The Horniman Museums and Gardens, London, signed the legal transfer of 72 Benin Bronzes in October 2022. The Pitt Rivers Museum of the University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge; Glasgow City Council in Scotland, National Museums of Scotland and other institutions are working towards repatriating Benin bronzes in their possession.
Asake’s O2 Academy Tragedy
There was a dark spot in singer Asake’s firmament on Thursday, December 15, when a stampede occurred at his London concert. The show at the 4900-capacity 02 Academy in Brixton was cancelled after the crowd breached the doors. While some people were injured, two died, while another was still in the hospital fighting for life. A mother of two, Rebecca Ikumelo and 23-year-old Gabrielle Hutchinson died from injuries at the stampede. Asake commiserated with the victims, saying on Twitter, “I am devastated by the news that Rebecca Ikumelo, who was in a critical condition since Thursday, has sadly passed away. My sincerest condolences to her loved ones at this time. Let us, please, keep her family in our prayers. I have spoken to them and will continue to do so.”
Deaths
Several artists died, and the Grim Reaper didn’t spare the culture sector. Veteran Fuji musician, Alhaji Isiaka Iyanda Sawaba, popularly known as Easy Sawaba, departed at 71 after reportedly suffering a partial stroke. The musician from Ile-Aperin, Orita Aperin area of Ibadan, was born in Ghana on November 11, 1951, and was just a level below the late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and General Kollington Ayinla in popularity.
The saxophonist, singer and producer Orlando Julius also passed at 79 in 2022 in his Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State country home.
2022 was also the year we lost film producers and directors Yinka Ogundaisi and Biyi Bandele, actors Ada Ameh, Leo Mezie, Sola Onayiga, Chinedu Nwadike, Gbenga Richards and Uncle Lari Williams. Dejo Tunfulu (Kunle Mac-Adetokunbo), Tafa Oloyede, Romanus Amuta, Kamal Adebayo, gospel artists, Sammie Okposo and Osinachi Nwachukwu also passed. May God rest their souls.
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