Ahead Independence, Anambra holds mega art exhibition

 

• _Seeks to boost economy through creative industry_ 

By Chuka Nnabuife

AHEAD  this year's commemoration of Nigeria's 63 Independence anniversary, a rare art showcase will hold in Anambra State. It will present the latest artworks produced by artists and major crafts makers among others in the state.

The expo, _Anambra Arts Mega Exhibition... Solution is Here_ is being organised by the Anambra State Ministry of Culture, Entertainment and Tourism in conjunction with the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA). According to the state's culture commissioner, Comrade Don Onyenji, the showcase will provide a healthy opportunity to highlight the state's distinguished and outstanding status in the visual arts. 

Scheduled to kick off on Wednesday, September 27  and remain open until Saturday, September 30 at Oma Events Centre (opposite Ekwueme Square), Awka, the exhibition is packaged to feature mainstream art pieces, crafts and cultural performance. 

Organisers intend to let the exhibition give ample chance for art enthusiasts, art collectors, researchers and tourists to have a good understanding of Anambra people's huge artistic endowment and what the state's creative industry can offer Nigeria's economy.

The four-day panoramic showcase presents a state whose vast potentials for a vibrant creative economy is not in doubt. 

Onyenji and his team use the initiative to poise Anambra State government on the path of projecting its own in the area it has comparative advantage against others in the comity of  Nigerian states.

 He disclosed that art collectors, galleries and some known connoisseurs from several parts of Nigeria have been invited to the occasion. While some members of the fast-reducing clan of  practitioners of some indigenous art traditions of the people such as those in blacksmithing, traditional wood carving will be seen in the expo "practicing what they know how to do best", Onyenji disclosed.

The 'Solution is Here' component in the exhibition's title underscores the real economic mission behind it. Through it, the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo seeks to offer solution to unemployment and poverty through creation of business opportunities for the artists and stakeholders of the sector in the land.