By Ebunoluwa Sessou

As part of an effort to build creativity in students, Culture Art Academy in partnership with the National Council for Art and Culture and Amuwo Odofin local government organised an Art Competition and Exhibition for Secondary School Students within the environment.

The event was intended to build an academy that is more focused on visual arts, general arts as well as discovering talents.

The maiden edition with the theme, “Arts and the Environment”, was aimed at discovering talent.

Speaking, the convener, Mr. Augustine Ekhaiyeme who is also the MD of the Culture Art Academy disclosed that the purpose was to catch the younger generation saying that most of them are mostly misled by their parents and peer pressure.

“We felt it necessary to broaden our scope and be able to accommodate younger talents.

“Comparing Arts and the Environment is a way of letting the students know that it is important to always observe the environment both the good, the bad and the ugly.

“They need to know how to express and interest the environment. They should be able to express it through art. Whatever they see that pleases them. Art is an environment because God himself is the creator of the world. So everything around us, everything in the environment is Art.

“The organization is an affiliate of the National Council of Arts and Culture. I am also affiliated with some other organizations outside Nigeria who are into the Arts.

“There are lots of challenges in terms of finance, acceptance of this talent because the environment is not really giving them that platform to express themselves.

“There are lots of parents that have discouraged their children from being artistes. Art is not only about drawing or painting, there is more to it.

“A lot of them are streamlined to just drawing and painting. Not knowing that, there are many fields when it comes to the Arts. There is drama, literature, set and design as well as architecture.

“I am happy that a lot of the parents have witnessed the event and they have seen that, it is a different experience.

“We actually want to expand the mind of the parents, their guidance to see work of art in another perspective. They have seen the talents, the resources and I believe, they would tap into it.

“I have been showcasing artistic works for the past eight years and the Amuwo Odofin local government led by the Chairman, Buraimoh Valentine has been of tremendous help for me.

“The exhibition has opened more avenues and given the students opportunities to appreciate their God-given talents.

“Before now, most of them did not have hope but we have created a platform for them to be focused on their vision and not money.

“We gave awards to students as a way of strengthening and renewing their hope. The awards we gave were art materials that they could use for training. And we also gave them a certificate of participating in the exhibition. And after the exhibition, some of them would have the opportunity to come to the cultural art academy”, he mentioned.

Speaking on Festac, he said, it is a festival town. It is an arts environment and a place where talents are made stars.

The Chairman, Amuwo Odofin local government, Engr. Valentine Buraimoh maintained that Festac is a cultured environment aimed at producing well cultured leaders.

“Culture begins from the Holy Scriptures and when you disobey your culture, you will begin to miss your steps.

“The adverse effects of modernized culture have infiltrated our positive lifestyle and well being. It is important to retrace our steps and shun westernized culture that is capable of destroying our lives.

“We have our culture, dressing and dialect and we must emulate and abide by them. There are cultural taboos that we must do away with. These are westernized cultures of cross dressing, gay, lesbianism, and homosexuality among others.

“In the quest of freedom of association, speech or expression, we have derailed and missed our steps.

“Our culture must always guide us in the right direction. Nigeria is confronted with different problems due to wrong culture, therefore, we must be wise”, he said.

He however called on parents to motivate their wards by giving them the right education and culture as the only legacies that would make them become good leaders in the society.

In her contribution, Feyisope Idowu, Deputy leader, Amuwo Odofin local government stated that the students have seen the spirit of resilience, I see creativity, boundless and not giving limits.

“I have been working with the organiser on arts and culture for some time. I am very encouraged, especially when I see the girl child doing what we perceived to be male inclined work. No profession is meant for a particular gender. We are supposed to encourage our children to discover their talents.

“We have seen people come out outstandingly in professions that are not very common and that is because such children set that vision and pursued it and achieved it despite the discouragement from their parents.

“We are duty bound to encourage the parents to motivate their children to pursue their dreams especially in the realm of art and culture”, she said.

Meanwhile, one of the students, Joseph Chidibiri of “No Limits International School” said, the art competition and exhibition was organised for them to showcase all artworks.

“I did abstract paintings on the human environment. The art shows how nature gives life. It shows how nature is taking out the things when people die. That is what the roots part represents because it is dark. While the tree part is showing how nature produces life to others in our environment. Because we can see nature everywhere”, he said.