By Prisca Sam-Duru

The power of the art in driving change in any society was massively projected on Friday, at the graduation ceremony of the 2025 set of the Terra Academy for the Arts (TAFTA).

Held in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, the 3rd edition of the graduation ceremony had over eight thousand students graduating from TAFTA.

The colourful event which lit up the Tera Arena, Lagos, emphasised the significant artistic growth of the alumni of TAFTA.

Setting the right mood for the occasion was a dance drama performance by Tafta participants. The performance which revolved around women empowerment was top notch. It offered a peek into how much the participants were ready to offer the society. The performance questions whether men have benefited anything from regarding women as objects to be suppressed or subjected to mental or emotional torture. The women were not smiling; a proof that someday, women will deal squarely with thieving politicians wrecking Nigeria. The show promoted team work and hard work, while condemning sexual harassment, violence against women as well as low representation of women in the national assembly, and several other key positions in public offices.

There was also screening of movie trailers from Tafta participants from centers in Ogun state (‘silent scream’) and (‘unbroken beat’), and ‘Marfarki Na’ from kano State.

One of the industry professionals, Bimbo Manuel who has put in 48 years as a broadcaster, writer, filmmaker and actor, was also on ground to motivate the graduates. He cautioned them not to view the industry as one that places certificates above raw talent. “The industry is not a certificate industry but where you prove yourself by showing your talent,” he said. He also offered to mentor graduates who are willing to learn further.

The colourful event also witnessed the unveiling of Bamike Adenibuyan, aka Bambam as TAFTA’s brand ambassador. The deafening applause from the graduates and general audience spoke loudly about the acceptance of Bambam the ‘Achalugo 1’ of the industry.

The transformative project initiated by Bolanle Austen-Peters in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, addresses knowledge gaps as well as gender disparities in Nigeria’s creative sectors. Male-dominated technical areas such as sound design, animation, and stage lighting now have young women making outstanding impact.

So far, TAFTA has empowered more than thirty thousand young people with an impressive number of alumni meaningfully employed while many others have become self- reliant.

The graduates who enjoyed free studies in scriptwriting, film making, animation, etc, courtesy of Mastercard Foundation, were drawn from TAFTA centres in Lagos, Ogun, and Kano States.

In her keynote speech, Country Director of Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria, Ms. Rosy Fynn, commended the initiator of TAFTA, Bolanle Austen-Peters for giving the young ones the opportunity to learn and make meaningful impact on the society. According to her, “At the Mastercard Foundations we can have great ideas and great dreams, but it takes an amazing partner to bring them to life and that’s what TAFTA has done with us under the leadership of Austen-Peters.”

And to the graduating class of 2025 Fynn said, “To celebrate your talent today and also your transformation, the theme of this graduation is perfect.

“It resonates deeply with me and as I look around this room filled with emerging scriptwriters, filmmakers, animators, sound designers, stage managers and so much more, I see not just individuals with talents but young people who can make real significant change.”

Austen-Peters, who was enthused about the glamorous turn of event, stated that TAFTA, which was birthed from the legacy of Terra Kulture, is a social transformation project committed to upskilling young creatives in vital technical fields and fostering gender equality.”

She disclosed that the graduation ceremony “Celebrates the remarkable journey of our students, adding to the over 30,000 individuals we have trained, with more than 19,000 recorded to have secured work so far. We are particularly proud of the growing number of talented female stage lighting, sound design, and animation artists emerging from our programs. We invite corporations to join us in recognising their transformation and the broader impact of TAFTA.”

Wishing the graduates the best in the industry, she said, “And most importantly, to our remarkable graduates, today we celebrate more than a graduation. We celebrate vision, we celebrate resilience, we celebrate creativity and most importantly we celebrate the power of opportunity. The persons that have graduated from TAFTA are all privileged because of the Mastercard Foundation’s opportunity provided for each and every one of you -free education.

“We celebrate each one of you because of your vision to apply, the resilience you had to finish because I’m sure it wasn’t easy especially because sometimes it’s mostly online and the creativity that you put together.

“We want to thank Mastercard Foundation for supporting free education and investing in futures that might have otherwise gone unseen. And to think that this is the over thirty thousand people graduated thus far is unbelievable. And that’s the power of imagination.”

She then harped on the need for the graduates to make a meaningful impact on the society through their craft. “You now have the tools, you have the talent, and you have gotten the training. What you do with what you have obtained is entirely yours.”