By DAYO ADESULU

To celebrate 100 Years of Bilateral Relations between the United Kingdom and Nigeria, the British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the British Council are launching a project to mark Nigeria’s Centenary.

This project, tagged ‘Young Art @ 100’, aims to, through art in schools, engage school age children in arts education and help them use the acquired skills to reflect on Nigeria’s centenary and the country’s relationship with Great Britain. It will also open up a new sphere of discourse and debate for the participating young people especially as Arts Education in young children has been proven to improve achievement and confidence.

The project will focus on: Developing artistic skills in school children, helping these children develop their own line of enquiry into the entity Nigeria focusing on the centenary and showcasing their artistic skills.

The British council, the organisation that is facilitating this project in partnership with the FCO, has selected 100 schools from 6 States in the 6 geo political zones in Nigeria for the project. Training will be delivered to 100 art teachers from these schools on how to engage children in various visual art forms including drawing, painting, textiles and sculpture.

According to Mohammed Ahmed, Assistant Director-British Council Nigeria.”The project will give many Nigerian students the opportunity to participate in public discourse about the past and future of Nigeria. Using creative arts provides an innovative exciting medium to express their hopes for the future.”

Participating States include: Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, Lagos and Bauchi.

The training for the teachers of the schools selected will be facilitated by Biodun Omolayo Art Gallery. They have a team of facilitators who have experience working with children in the arts.Workshops for the teachers will start on 28 October and end on 01 November 2013.After the training the teachers are expected to return to their schools and transfer the knowledge garnered to their students. The teachers will also arrange competitions in their schools from which the best art works will be exhibited.