After several months of inaction in the culture sector due to the restrictions over Covid 19, most art and culture venues in Lagos have fully returned for normal business. EDOZIE UDEZE visited some of the venues and spoke to some artists, art enthusiasts and stakeholders.
Artists are back on the block. This is the clarion call now. Most art and theatre centres have reopened fully within Lagos. Generally, the art scenes have begun to bubble, vibrate and cater for the interest of the culture sector. It was actually the exclamation of one Tito Oki last weekend that redirected people’s attention to this new found euphoria.
The venue was the Freedom Park, Lagos. Artists of different genres had gathered to relax and unwind after the prolonged Covid 19 break or drawl in the art business. As soon as Oki sauntered into the arena and saw many artists in their droves, he exclaimed, “oh my God! This crowd makes me want to live again and again”.
But why? Oki was asked. “Since 2020, coming here was like tasting acid. You wouldn’t even be allowed to enter in the first place. On many occasions when I passed this way and looked at the Park, I said to myself, when will life ever return here again? Now, see the crowd”.
But, yes, life has indeed returned to most art event centres and venues in Lagos. As it is at Freedom Park, so it is at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. Artists, art enthusiasts, fun seekers, holiday makers, film producers/directors, all have begun to visit these venues once more. It is time once more for business to boom.
From Iganmu to other cinema venues, to audition centres for films and stage plays, artists feel good again. They all agreed that the period of the Corona virus, the lockdown, the social distancing period and other innocuous conditions attached to Covid 19 was bad for business. ‘Thank God, we can now converge again’, Oki said. ‘It is good to come together like this to relax, watch shows, discuss art and culture issues and generally meet people. It makes life good, it increases the volume of art business and then adds to income of practitioners’, he said, clasping his hands.
At Terra Kulture, Lagos, the feeling was the same. From the period of Christmas through the New year, when art programmes and shows took place, stakeholders, thespians, organizers, artists generally, everybody felt good. At least until when another wave of Covid 19 comes if it will ever come, life is back in the art circle, and events happen at regular intervals.
Collins, a stage artiste said: “when we were told to visit the National Theatre earlier in the year for a show, I was a bit astounded. Why? It is because I never knew social life in the art circle had returned so soon and in full bloom”. When therefore on the Valentine’s Day, the love play titled Love at War took place, everyone who attended the show felt good.
The venue, like it is said in art circle, makes the event. The ambiance of the Theatre, the space, the centrality of the location, the airiness, all helped to attract more people to the venue. As artists and art lovers arrived for the event, music boomed from all corners of the National Theatre. It was cool. It was time to mix once again; time for artistes to mount the stage to do their bit. There was plenty of joy on people’s faces. In fact some visitors who’d not been to the Theatre for quite sometime were overwhelmed with joy.
Collins said; “Here we are feeling cool, meeting those we have not met since 2020. God punish Corona virus (laughs). It shall never be well with those who invented it”. It was clear that there was no more fear on the faces of artists. To them Corona virus, Covid 19, Omicron, they have all subsided, leaving the public with moments of respite. The National Theatre environment is truly suitable for some art shows now. It bubbles daily with one or two different art shows to compliment the venue, the coziness.
Like the General Manager of the Theatre Professor Sunday Ododo said in an earlier interview, “once the renovations are over, we will work towards hosting another FESTAC”. For him the venue is still a viable option for the show whenever the federal government gives the official approval for the hosting of another FESTAC.
Again, some film makers, directors and all, still go to the Theatre to book for venues. This is a remarkable development since the National Theatre ever remains the apex culture house of Nigeria. Therefore national cultural events that matter have no choice but to happen at the Theatre. Being a professor of Theatre, a thorough-bred academic Ododo knows what’s best for the sector, for the growth of theatre.
So, generally, as life returns to culture sector in different parts of Lagos, it is also time to grow the economy of the sector. It is time for other parastatals of government and some private culture outfits to key into this to accelerate growth. It is time to allow artists to express their calling, to come into the main fold in order to make ends meet. Art has to be allowed to prosper, thrive and also drive the economy.