Kennedy Center President to Meet with African Art Leaders

Michael M. Kaiser, the President of the Kennedy Center, announced Wednesday that he is transporting his arts management in February to five countries in Africa.

As an extension of the training programs at the center, Kaiser plans to hold meetings in Nairobi, Kenya; Lagos, Nigeria; Zanzibar, Tanzania; Kampala, Uganda and Harare, Zimbabwe.

Those nations have had participants in the center's training sessions in Washington. "They all expressed a need for more training in those countries. And I thought we had ignored the central part of Africa," Kaiser said.

Kaiser has conducted sessions in Egypt and South Africa, some of the 70 countries that have participated in the center's outreach.

The center itself has only spotlighted performing arts from Africa in a three-year festival, African Odyssey, that ran from 1997 to 2000.

The issues are very similar to ones Kaiser encountered when he held a national listening tour in all 50 states called "Arts in Crisis." "The resources are different," he explained. "In the United States many people are expected to support the arts. That is not so in Africa. There is very little individual fund-raising. And that's true in most countries of the world."

Most of the countries he is visiting, Kaiser said, "do not have a lot of government support and the question is how do you put funding together. Funding, marketing and artistic issues are very central." Many organizations are supported by funders from Europe.

The travel is scheduled for February 7-14. The program is privately supported by the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the center.

Source: Washington Post Online

Nigeria's art collectors: A niche new market

In a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria's business capital, Yemisi Shyllon lives in a house full of bronze statues of African tribal rulers and brightly colored beadwork landscapes. He may be Nigeria's biggest art collector, with some 6,000 pieces by his count. "I don't go out much," he says, "I have enough to look at here."

Mr. Shyllon, who runs an engineering company, is one of a small circle of Nigerian businessmen who own huge collections of local art. Sammy Olagbaju, a 70-year-old retired stockbroker who has lived in London and New York, is another avid collector. One Lagos-based banker has over 600 pieces.

With 250 ethnic groups and around 150 million people, Africa's most populous country has many sources of artistic inspiration. A number of artists from western Nigeria use the bright colors and beadwork of the Yoruba, south-east sometimes look to their region's uli style, with simpler drawings on walls or pots.

The collectors say their government cares little about preserving this artistic heritage. They share the cynicism of many Nigerians, who think the politicians are more eager to grab a share of the revenues of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producer. Instead, the collectors prefer to put their own money into gathering and cataloguing thousands of works of art. "For me, this is a philanthropic act," says Mr. Olagbaju, who notes that Nigeria's top public galleries struggle with power cuts that leave masterpieces gathering dust in the dark.

More recently, these collectors have realized that they have also been canny investors. Their hobby has started to attract foreign attention - and cash. At an auction of African art in New York in March, the five most expensive lots were Nigerian. A painting by the late Ben Enwonwu went for $91,000.

Some buyers are speculating that the Nigerian works are still undervalued. Giles Peppiatt, director of contemporary African art at Bonhams, a British auction house that hosted the New York sale, says prices will rise in this niche market.

Auctions are also happening in Lagos, where oil and banking have made a few very rich, though most people still live in grinding poverty. "There's a lot of money in Nigeria," says Mr. Peppiatt. "And though it might sound cynical, money and art are inextricably linked."

Source: The Economist Online

“INVISIBLE BORDERS” EN ROUTE TO DAK’ART 2010

The 2nd edition of “Invisible Borders” is set to kick off. IB 2010 sees 11 Nigerian photographers and a filmmaker on a road trip from Lagos passing through Cotonou, Lomé, Accra, Abidjan, Bamako and finally arriving in Dakar. This year’s trip is anchored to the Biennale of Contemporary African Art of Dakar, Dak’Art 2010 scheduled to take place from the 7th of May to the 7th of June 2010. The IB team begins the journey on the 23rd of April and is scheduled to be back in Lagos by 18th of May 2010.

One good thing about the previous journey in 2009 was that throughout its length, we were confronted with all the insufficiencies and unforeseen challenges that comes with such a spontaneous venture – we made note of them. Therefore this year’s phase provides the opportunity to elaborate on a progress already began in 2009. There will be much more emphasis on the journey and its processes than the final destination. Therefore we will spend 2 days in each major city to work with two indigenous photographers from a given city. This way, we will create tangible networks between photographers in every of the cities, while discovering their country through their input. As usual, Adenike Ojeikere and Unoma Geise will be writing all throughout the trip, and these writings and selected images will appear in our blog in real time as the journey. Chuka Ejorh will be in charge of the documentary film and video interviews.

The rest of the participants are: Amaize Ojeikere, Ray Daniels Okeugo, Uche James-Iroha, Charles Okereke, Uche Okpa-Iroha, Chidimma Nnorom and Emeka Okereke.

This journey will be tedious, the road is hard and far, there will be lots of unforeseen circumstances, but we will be consoled by each click of our cameras and by the faces of a every good persons we encounter. As a team, we will support each other and together, face the challenges every mile of the way! This is photography beyond borders!

Source: creativeafricannetwork.com