The Centre for Contemporary Art, (CCA), Yaba was always beehive of activities because of what the centre offers to the art community, but last Friday was a different ball game as people from all works of life, art collectors, patrons, artists, students, alumni of the University of Nigeria, Fine and Applied Art department and art lovers gathered at the centre during the opening ceremony of a special exhibition to celebrate, a teacher, sculptor and one described as one of the most exciting contemporary visual artists from Africa, El Anatsui and his monumental works as he turned 70.

“If I disagree with you on a matter, I hardly pull back and I enjoy having arguments but my arguments don’t lead to malice rather, they are for the progress of Nigeria.”

The Federal Government has created additional directorates in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.

The much awaited show featuring Nigeria’s Afro beat legend, Femi and German reggae artist, Gentleman, took place penultimate week at the Afrika Shrine Ikeja, Lagos.

IN a rather sophisticated ceremony that attracted dons, public intellectuals and other eminent Nigerians, the winner of the 2013 Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, (NLNG), Tade Ipadeola was presented to the public, last Friday, at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos.

“I am thankful to the organizers of this event, Etisalat Nigeria for this most excellent and necessary prize. We are all aware of the shortage of literary prizes in Africa and it is heart-warming to know that Etisalat Nigeria sees and values the significance of such literary works in Africa.”

The Bogobiri Open Mic Night is best described as an underground, art-movement. It’s a great hub for creative artists (amateurs and professionals), talented people and enthusiasts alike. We all get together weekly to sing live music with a band accompaniment, perform poetry or spoken word as now commonly referred and network in general

Lovers of theatre and art were treated to what can be described as a real treat last weekend when Entertainment Bus-Stop led by celebrated Nigerian playwright, Eki Faith Eboigbe’s opened their 2014 thaetre season with a splendid performance of Okikiro, the love of country at the Agip Recital Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan.

The festival which began with the unveiling of the festival programme in Lagos had a lot of festivity. As in the previous years, there were contests in football match displays, inter-lineal cultural competition, mountaineering, art exhibition among others.

THE town folks said it, it’s been a long time they witnessed it. Indeed, cultural carnivals, like in many other Igbo communities, are becoming a relic. Worse still, traditional burials, one of the people’s carnival expressions, which used to be their cultural exhibitions in the days of yore, are becoming rarer

IRESI, a serene town in Boluwaduro local government Area of Osun State literally erupted in frenzy of cultural performances recently when they celebrated Iresi Socio-Cultural Festival.

To me today’s event is a combination of education and healthcare, which represents the core of human capital development. This was the words of Governor Babatunde Fashola, the executive governor of Lagos State during the launch of a book, Heroes and Others, written by award winning author and the outgoing Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr. Femi Olugbile at the conference hall of Protea Hotel, Ikeja.

The arrow Head of Oodua People Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams has disclosed that Nigeria needs to restore its cultural heritage to ensure a formidable peaceful co-existence.

The year 2013 was a very busy year for the Nigerian visual art scene, as artists both in the country and outside exhibited widely in many galleries all over the world. And this year, it has started with several exhibitions in Nigeria, and in far away Philadelphia, Yinka Shonibare, a British artist of Nigerian descent, opened his year with a unique exhibition tagged Magic Ladders.

In line with the cardinal vision of deepening the culture of research and development initiative in the arts to its fullest form as envisioned in other well established universities in the world, one of Nigeria’s foremost patron and the highest art collector in Africa, Prince Yemisi Shyllon last year instituted The Prince (Engr.) Dr Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Professional Chair in Fine Arts & Design, Faculty of Humanities, University of Port Harcourt.