Category: Art, Media & Entertainment

The University of Michigan has named Dayo Aiyetan, Executive Director, International Center for Investigative Reporting, Abuja, Nigeria as one of its Fellow for its Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship Programme for the 2017-2018 academic year. The group, which includes 12 Americans and seven international journalists, is the 44th class of journalism fellows at the University.

Dayo Aiyetan’s study project is Advancing best practices for whistle blowing platforms to support investigative reporting in Nigeria.

Knight-Wallace Fellows spend an academic year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to pursue individual study plans and to engage in collaborative learning through fellowship seminars, training workshops and travel. Through twice-weekly seminars, Fellows engage with visiting journalists, eminent scholars and creative thinkers from a range of fields. Weeklong international news tours provide broader context to political, economic and social forces shaping their fields of study, and to trends and challenges facing journalism in other countries.

The program is based at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary. Knight-Wallace Fellows receive a stipend of $70,000 for the eight-month academic year plus full tuition and health insurance. The programme is entirely funded through endowment gifts by foundations, news organizations and individuals committed to improving the quality of information reaching the public.

 

Faraday Okoro, a 30-year-old Nigerian-American filmmaker, has been awarded a $1 million grant for his film Nigerian Prince from AT&T in its first program to help emerging filmmakers.

Written and directed by Okoro, the movie will be produced by Biyi Bandele and Oscar Hernandez-Topete with a focus on underrepresented perspectives.

Nigeria Prince will premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

A New York City based Nigerian-American filmmaker, Faraday Okoro graduated with Distinction from Howard University and has MFA in filmmaking from NYU Film School.

But the money came with pressure: For example, it was to be filmed in Africa.

Tomi Adeyemi, has landed a seven figure book-and-movie deal for her first novel, Children of Blood and Bone, which is described as a “Black Lives Matter-inspired fantasy novel.”

The film rights were purchased by Fox 2000 before the novel was released.

Tomi Adeyemi is a 23 years old Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, who graduated from Harvard with a major in English Literature before receiving a fellowship to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil.

Her debut West African YA Fantasy novel is CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE (Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan). The CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE movie is in development at Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions with Karen Rosenfelt and Marty Bowen (Twilight, Maze Runner, The Fault In Our Stars) producing it.

Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga received the Belgian Art Prize 2017, the oldest contemporary art award in Belgium. The prize is accompanied by a reward of 25,000 euros.

Otobong Nkanga, 42, is a visual artist and performer who handles drawing, photography, installation and video. It focuses on the interconnection between environment, architecture and history. Political themes that are explored with poetry, between narratives and memories. For the Belgian Art Prize, she presents a sculpture and three textile works that intertwine awakened dreams and visions of the world.

The exhibition Belgian Art Prize is visible until 28 May [2017] at the Palais des Beaux-Arts.

The Nigerian fine artist, Otobong Nkanga, in 2015 emerged the first African to win the Yanghyun Foundation Artist Award in Seoul, Korea. She was selected for her outstanding creativity in media and motivational photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and video.

The Lagos State Government (LASG) has inaugurated a Board of Arts & Culture with distinguished members of the Lagos State Arts and Culture Board [2017] inducted by the Governor Of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, as follows:

Arts enthusiast, Mrs. Polly Alakija as Chairman

Veteran thespian, Mrs. Joke Silva

Award winning actor, Kunle Afolayan

Visual artist, Mr. Kolade Oshinowo

Foremost artist & designer, Chief Mrs. Nike Okundaye

Mobee of Badagry, High Chief Patrick Yodenu Mobee

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Adesina Adeyemi

Director of Culture at the Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, Mrs. Saidat Otulana

The Lagos State Arts and Culture Board seeks to fulfill the following responsibilities:

1. To explore private sector support to nurture new talents and generate events for a sustainable development of the creative arts sector in the State.
2. To drive tourism, create employment & increase the contribution of the non-oil sector to the State’s gross domestic product.
3. To ensure the sustainable management of arts and culture facilities and infrastructures in the State.

Purple Hibiscus by award-winning Nigerian author and MacArthur Genius Award recipient Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been selected winner of the 2017 One Maryland One Book.

The novel was chosen by a committee of librarians, educators, authors, and bibliophiles in February [2017] from more than 120 titles suggested last fall by readers across the state under the theme, “Home and Belonging.”

Purple Hibiscus is an exquisite novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, the powerful bonds of family, and the bright promise of freedom.

 

Ubiomo Chinedu Ogheneroh and Ayooluwa Nihinlola are technically gifted and creative graphic artists and illustrators evident in their culturally rich works ‘Facial Series’ & ‘Nollywood Legends’.

Ubiomo’s Facial Series, features blues eyed African women with traditional Uli design drawn on their faces. A graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ubiomo acknowledges influence and inspiration by the Igbo cultural Uli symbols, which gave birth to what he calls ‘kpuri’ which simply means ‘the act of using African symbols’.

Nihinlola’s Nollywood Legends immortalises some of Nollywood’s greats including Pete Edochie, Sam Loco Efe, Bukky Ajayi, and Patience Ozokwor. The project is a 48-page e-book featuring illustrations and brief biographies of the oldies in Nigeria’s film industry.

The book, Nollywood Legends, is targeted at youths who believe Nollywood begins and ends with the new generation of actors. Ayooluwa says he hopes to enlighten and remind them of the impact and legacy of these legends.

The book can be downloaded for free here.