By Emmanuel Elebeke

 In digital driven company, Art Tech District has opened a museum for restoration and preservation of Nigerian culture  and artifacts.

The art village called the Discovery Museum is a synchronization of arts, history, and technology that showcases Nigerian history and culture in a concised and digital format.

Speaking on the new medium, General Manager, Art Tech District, Ms Faridah Dikko, said the museum offers Nigerian natives  a platform where they would learn their culture, explore new ideas and interact on digital creatives and above all display their talents to the world.

According to Dikkoh,  “ATD recognized the role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in today’s world and its crucial role in capturing the attention of individuals, especially the young minds and decided to employ it in promoting the museum and culture of Nigeria by creating something different and captivating.”

She noted that the digital museum is specifically designed to educate young people  about the Nigerian history, culture, music, arts and crafts in a way that is interesting and intriguing, adding that  efforts were ongoing to engage more relevant agents of government to increase awareness about the museum and get more Nigerian youths to derive from its benefits.

Her words, “In Arts Tech District, what we are trying to do within this space is to create a community where creatives, especially up coming artists can really strives, learn new things, explore new ideas, meet themselves as well.

“We are also trying to cater to individuals that have interest in tech industry as well, hence the name Art Tech District.

“We have different units within the compound, each of which is a representative of what we want to do.

“We started building during the COVID-19 lock down, so we are still pretty young.

“We have achieved a lot since that time. The digital museum is the focal point of the district. It’s a synchronization of arts, history, and technology. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria, and we are really proud of all the work that has gone into it.

“We started it in July and since then we have had a lot of people coming in and a couple of official visits.

“What we did with the museum was to make a typical museum going experience and infuse it with elements of technology and digital media.

“As we all already know, ICT is the future of the world.  So, we felt a museum was the right project because as a country, we felt there is a gap so we wanted to strengthen the museum going culture in the country. 

“We also wanted to focus on our history, and really find a way to share our history, our talents and our vision within  the community. We also wanted to do so in a way that was different, engaging, exciting to the young people and the children as well. These are all the different things, that we considered.”

Marketing, Innovation and Events Lead at Art Tech District, Yemi Davis, during a tour of the facility, informed that the facility where the museum is located contains a host of other unites such as: games, virtual reality, art and crafts studio, restaurants, children arena among others.

For him,  these can serve as side attractions to visitors.

 “We have an Art and Craft studio where we showcase the Nigerian Tie-Dye attires popularly known as “Adire” and also teach people who are willing to learn the art of Tie-Dye, including children.

“They can learn this skill and commercialize it to make a living. It all basically an environment where you can learn a lot of things while having fun at the same time,” Davis said.