CORA Art & Cultural Foundation

(Short Statement by The Committee For Relevant Art, CORA, on the event of the passing of Professor Chinua Achebe)

The Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) commiserates with the family of Professor Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian arts community as well as the entire nation on the occasion of the death of the man deservedly referred to as ‘the father of the African Novel’ and founder of the Association Of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

Everything about Achebe’s career was geared towards contributing the African perspective to the global conversation on humanity’s ways of being. First, his Things Fall Apart (TFA), published in 1958, when he was 28, was the first novel to engage with European colonialism from an African perspective. The story spoke to an international audience.

As he worked on his second novel, Achebe took some time to bringing, into the literary pantheon, a vast number of other young, talented African writers through the African Writers Series, which he edited for Heinemann of London. He was always about us doing things in our own way.

Achebe led the way in the campaign for robust, world class, indigenous publishing. With the phenomenal success of TFA which gave him enormous influence over the British owned Heinemann’s Africa Writers Series, and three other successful novels, Achebe could, by 1971, demand that his books would henceforth be published, first by a Nigerian publisher, from whom a reprint could be requested by any British or American publisher. Granted, a tradition of request for rights to books from Nigerian publishers, by overseas publishing houses, had been established much earlier – the throbbing literary scene in Ibadan in the 1960s provided the impetus for foreign publishers to have a look in and buy rights to works of the emerging writers of that period, from the Mbari Club (which doubled as a society and a publisher) – but Achebe returned from the Civil war certain that homegrown Nigerian publishing ‘will make its way in the world’. 

It is that same lifelong pursuit of ‘our own thing for us’, that propelled his invitation of Nigerian writers to Nsukka, in 1983, to reconvene the body of writers now known as ANA.

The almost unanimous expression of grief by the entire nation at Achebe’s death, coming so soon after the frenetic debates over certain facts and opinions contained in his last book, the memoir There Was A Country, shows that, while opinions might be divided on the literary icon’s recollection of Nigerian history, his place in the pantheon of our men of ideas and ideals remain undiminished in the estimation of an appreciative people.

The Committee understands the grief that the family, the community of artists and the entire nation are going through. We share the feeling of loss and mourn the passing away of this true icon of the contemporary arts of Nigeria. We know that he is resting in peace.

  For: Committee for Relevant Art

Toyin Akinosho

Secretary General

An Arthouse Forum On Whiteman’s Book On Lagos

The poet and sometime painter, Deji Toye will moderate a conversation around Kaye Whiteman’s 'LAGOS: A Cultural and Historical Companion' at the Freedom Park (1 Hospital Road, by Broad Street, Lagos) at 4pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013.

The conversation is part of an arthouse forum, organized by the Committee For Relevant Art(CORA), in honour of Whiteman, who flew into town to launch the book. The author himself also turns 77 around that date and so there’d be a small musical show at the Park’s food court after the conversation.

The discussants are Tolu Ogunlesi, poet and journalist, and Toni Kan, poet Short story writer, journalist and publicist, and Femke van Zeiji, a Dutch Journalist who in recent years relocated to Lagos.

Whiteman first came to Nigeria in the 60s, but he fell for Lagos when he lived in the city for two years between 2000 and 2002.

The book’s blurb says that the author “explores a city that has constantly re-invented itself, from the first settlement on an uninhabited island to the creation of the port in the early years of the twentieth century…. The city’s melting-pot has ferti­lised a unique literary and artistic flowering that is only now beginning to be appreciated by a world that has only seen slums and chaos”.

Jahman Anikulapo will be 50 onJanuary 16, 2013. This period also coincides with his exiting a long, stellarcareer at Guardian newspaper group as the Sunday Editor. In the last twodecades or so, Jahman has pressed his talent, position and material means to service in aid of the development of the cultural sector in Nigeria.

It is in light of the foregoing thatthe friends of Jahman Anikulapo, under the aegis of Committee of the Friends OfJahman @50, have planned a month-long programme of events to celebrate this cultural agent. The Committee has now released the timetable for the celebrations, with the overall theme: ‘3D-Jahman: The Three Dimensions of a Cultural Change Agent – Artist, Activist and Art Journalist.’

 Full Details of Events andActivities

·      January 13, 2013: Arthouse Forum

Arthouse ForumFor Jahman Anikulapo At 50: Apanel conversation around how the Interplay between Art Advocacy, ArtJournalism and Art Practice has shaped the evolution of cultural propagation inthe last 25 years. This will be followed by two other events later that evening

-      Tributes and Readings For Jahman Anikulapo

-      An evening of songs, theatre skitsand performances

Time: From 4.pm.

Venues: Kongi’s Harvest Gallery(Second Floor), Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos.

RSVP: Ayodele Arigbabu (08033000499).

 iREPRESENT INTERNATIONAL FILM DOCUMENTARY  ( Friends of  CORA) has also planned an event to celebrate Jahman Anikulapo. Date is FRIDAY, 18th of January, 2013, at Freedom Park, Marina, Lagos, 7:00pm prompt.

RSVP: Sam Osaze 08036554119

·      January 20, 2013: Invitational Dinner

Jahman’s colleagues in the Guardiangroup of newspapers host him to an evening of dining and tributes.

RSVP: Andrew Iro Okungbowa (08023152195)

 ·      January 25, 2013: Stripped Bare: Jahman Anikulapo, Warts and All

The celebrant in an intimate conversation with a whistleblower about childhood, upbringing, betweenarea-boyism and ajebotterhood, the promise of youth, the gap betweenexpectations and middle age reality, hooliganism, the secrets of journalisticsuccess, the challenges of advocacy, the hopes of culture advocacy, a peek intolife after the Guardian.

Time: From 5pm.

Venue: Quintessence Book andArtshop, Falomo Shopping Centre

RSVP: Sam Osaze (08036554119).

 It should be recalled that onDecember 30, 2012, Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) of which Jahman isProgramme Chairman held a celebration for him at its annual year-end party inFestac Town, Lagos, at which there was a symbolic cutting of cake and a pouringof libation superintended by Mr. Benson Idonije, patriarch of Nigerian artcritics.

Also, the artists Nkechi Nwosu-Igboand Toni Kan have already launched call for submission into a poetry collectionto be published in honour of Jahman Anikulapo, just as we understand that thecall for contribution of papers into a festschrift for a similar purpose willbe made in the next few days.

We look forward to your active participation in this season of celebrations.

Thank you.

Yours,

 DejiToye                                     

THEME: FINANCING THE BOOK TRADE

As part of its 14th Lagos Book & Art Festival which holds from the 16th till the 18th of November 2012, Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) hereby announces its plans for the 3rd Publishers’ Forum which will hold on the 15th of November.

The Publishers’ Forum provides a concentrated space for key publishers in Nigeria to gain critical insight into their current operations within the context of the challenges facing their industry, brainstorm on their findings and identify key steps that can be taken as individual businesses or as a collective to improve their bottom line. At CORA, we picture ourselves as midwives to the different facets of the creative industries in Nigeria, therefore what we hope to achieve through the publisher’s forum is the blossoming of the nation’s book industry.

We like to see the Publishers' Forum as a 'focus group' or a strategy session with key facilitators as guide. The forum is targeted at principals of publishing houses who seek to grow their market and are willing to engage in creative thinking towards identifying strategies that can make this possible for them whether within a collective or through their individual operations. Our expectation is that cogent strategies would emerge from the session which can be immediately implemented or could be built upon in future.

In appreciating the importance of funding and cash flow management to any business, we have chosen to focus on the theme: FINANCING THE BOOK TRADE for this year’s Publisher’s Forum with the hope that ideas generated will serve well in empowering publishers in developing economies like ours to dramatically scale up their businesses.

Within the four hours marked up for the business forum, we intend the participants to add value to their businesses through the intervention of key facilitators, critical feedback on their processes, input on the most challenging areas they have to deal with and useful networking.

The Publishers’ Forum will be followed from 5pm to 6.30pm by a conversation (open to the public) where two publishers will share from their current work and experience in the publishing business. This year, we will have Otunba Lawal Solarin who established Literamed Publishers in 1969, in conversation with Muhthar Bakare who in turn founded Farafina Books in 2004. This conversation will be followed by a cocktail reception to help set the tone for the festival.

The Lagos Book & Art Festival is a comprehensive, four day programme of events; readings, conversations around books, art and craft displays, kiddies’ art workshops and reading sessions, book exhibitions, live music and dance. It will run from November 16 to 18 at the grounds of Freedom Park, 1 Hospital Road, (Old Broad Street Prison site) Lagos Island.

The Publishers’ Forum will hold from 10am – 6.30pm on the 15th of November at Goethe Institut, 4th Flr, City Hall, 30 Catholic Mission Str, Lagos Island.

The summary of the schedule is as follows:

THURSDAY 15TH NOVEMBER,

10am – 5pm @ Goethe Institut, City Hall, Lagos

CORA Publishers’ Forum

Theme: Financing The Book Trade

Nigerian Publishers workshop the opportunities the environment offers for financing of publishing. It’s a brain storming session that will lead to concrete, implementable solutions to be published as a document. Lead presentations by Muhthar Bakare and Deji Toye.

5pm – 6.30pm @ Goethe Institut, City Hall, Lagos

Publishers’ Interface with the public / Pre-festival cocktail

Farafina Books will have a conversation with Literamed Publishers on funding options they have employed in running their businesses amongst other pertinent issues.

Discussants: Otunba Lawal Solarin (Publisher, Literamed) and Muhthar Bakare (Publisher, Farafina).

Amalion Publishing invites you to these two events as My Life Has a Price, a gripping tale of pain, strength and triumph is presented at the Lagos Book & Art Festival. Venue is: Freedom Park, 1 Hospital Road, Broad Street, Lagos. 16-18 Nov.

FRIDAY 16TH NOVEMBER

2pm – 3pm

My Life Has a Price

A panel discussion around the newly released personal memoirs of abuse victim- Tina Okpara and the theme of abuse, rape and how literature can fill the gap. Published by Amalion Publishers, the book My Life Has a Price is being introduced to the public at the 14th Lagos Book & Art Festival. Discussants include Emmanuel Iduma, Adaudo Osigwe, Dami Ajayi, Sylva Nze Ifedigbo moderated by Chris Ihidero. Produced by Saraba Magazine.

SATURDAY 17TH NOVEMBER,

10am – 11.45am

My Life Has a Price- Meet the author

Tina Okpara's memoir, MY LIFE HAS A PRICE takes us on her 5-year journey to hell; from a loving yet poor childhood in Nigeria to the ordeal of modern day slavery in wealthy, suburban Paris.  She was only 13 when celebrity footballer, Godwin Okpara and his wife Linda, lured her father into giving her up for a supposedly better life in Europe. Tina Okpara will share from that experience, especially on writing the memoir and the closure it brings.

One morning in the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria, a lucky 13-year-old girl named Tina, who came from a modest family, is preparing to go to France to become part of Linda and Godwin Okpara's family. Linda is a home maker and Godwin is a footballer at top French club Paris Saint-Germain and for the Super Eagles, Nigeria's national squad. They have four children and Tina dreams of going with them to school and joining in their games and pranks, living the European dream. But soon after her arrival the reality becomes different.

Written in collaboration with acclaimed journalist, Cyril Guinet, Tina recounts how imprisonment, torture and abuse in a suburban house in the middle of gentrified Europe in the twenty-first century could not break her. Tina's gripping story of survival and escape is a moving testament to a remarkable woman, a true survivor.

My Life Has A Price is one of the books of the festival. To this effect, a panel of discussion is set around the newly released personal memoirs of the abused victim- Tina Okpara and the theme of abuse, rape and how Literature can fill the gap.

Published by Amalion Publishers Dakar, the book is set to make waves at the 14th Lagos Book & Art Festival.  This is a heartrending true lifestory that encapsulates the agonizing pains of a childhood servitude in the hands of adoptive parents. A-must-read, an eye-opener to those who place a high price-tag on humanity and the right of the child!

Entry to the Lagos Book & Art Festival is absolutely freee!

For more information, visit www.coraartfoundation.com, http://www.amalion.net/catalogue_en/item/my_life_has_a_price/ call: 08189417037.

Ali Baba, the country’s top comedian and Matthew Kukah, the nation’s spiritual guide and confessor, will speak back to back at the opening ceremonies of the 14th Lagos Book and Art Festival scheduled for Freedom Park on Broad Street on November 16, 2012. Mr Ali Baba, who symbolizes the possibilities of a successful career in an intangible vocation, will deliver this year’s My Encounter With The Book speech, at 10am prompt, to open the Children segment of the three day fiesta. The speech has become some sort of the Festival’s keynote address, even though it is designed to mentor children on the role books have played in the life of the speaker. Past keynoters have included Professor Pat Utomi, Professor Femi Osofisan and Professor Tunde Babawale. Shortly after Mr Ali Baba’s message, Bishop Kukah will be led to the podium, in a parallel session, by the poet Tolu Ogunlesi, for the Festival’s Opening Conversation. The discussion, around the Bishop’s latest book Witness To Justice; An Insider’s Account of Nigeria’s Truth Commission, will kickstart the Festival’s 10 panel sessions and conversations over the next three days. LABAF will feature over 10 book events, three music concerts, two theatre shows, 11 workshops for children and a visual art exhibition. There are over thirty books being discussed at the festival including Fela: This Bitch of a Life by Carlos Moore, Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley by Timothy White. Power, Politics & Death by Segun Adeniyi, Bitter-Sweet My Life with Obasanjo by Oluremi Obasanjo, A Measure of Grace by Akin Mabogunje, Bomboy, by Yewande Omotosho, Voice Of America, by E. C. Osondu, Stealth Of Nations: The Global Rise Of The Informal Economy, by Robert Neuwirth, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, Open Graveyard by Wale Osun, Out of the Shadows by Kayode Fayemi, Roses and Bullets by Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo and Witness To Justice by Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah.

The Committee for Relevant Art(CORA) cordially invites you to its fourth annual BOOK PARTY holding on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 at the Conference/ExhibitionRoom of the Kongi's Harvest Gallery,Freedom Park , 1 Hospital Road, opposite General Hospital, Broad Street,Lagos. The event runs from 1pm to 5pm.

The session of readings, reviews, conversations and fraternization will featurethe Shortlisted Writers in the yearlyNigeria Prize for Literature who will be reading from their works as well as engaged in conversation among themselves and with members of the public.

The authors to be honoured andfeted are:

OnuoraNzekwu, (Troubled Dust); 

Vincent Egbuson ( Zhero); 

Lola Soneyin  (TheSecret Lives Of Baba Segi’s Wives), 

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (I Do Not Come To You By Chance);

Jude Dibia (Blackbird),

Chika Unigwe (On Black Sister’s Street),

Olusola Olugbesan’s (Only A Canvas),

Ifeanyi Ajaegbo’s (Sarah House )

E. E. Sule’s (Sterile Sky) and

Ngozi Achebe’s (Onaedo, The Blacksmith’s Daughter).

 NB: The list will be shortened to three by October 9. 

The readings/jam session/reviewwas started four years ago to honour those who make the Shortlist of the$100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature, NPL. The objective is to make theShortlisted work and its author known to the members of the public by creatingconversations around the work and the author. Our conviction is thatbeing on the Shortlist is already a certification that the Writer with hiswork is one of the very best; and as such a Winner even at this stage of the competition. 

It promises to be a mini-Literary picnic – talking, wining, dining andfun -- celebrating Nigeria’s literature and the creative spirits of our land.

The gate is FREE but come promptly, please.

 With respect,

 SAMUEL OSAZE

RSVP: 08036554119 (SMS preferable, please)

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE at the-- LIGHTS, CAMERA, AFRICA 2012 FILM FESTIVAL, DAY 2.

You are invited to participate in a discussion on this year’s festival theme – "Shine Your Eye": Film as Eyewitness on Saturday 29th September between 3.30pm and 4.30pm. The venue of the discussion will be the Southern Sun Hotel in Ikoyi. Participants are kindly requested to arrive at 2.30pm

This hour-long moderated discussion to be anchored by Cora Art and Cultural Foundation & TheLifeHouse is targeted at film-makers, students of film and general film and culture enthusiasts. We anticipate that it will provide an opportunity for the discussants and the audience to interrogate the role of film in acting as a witness to historic events.

The films selected for this year’s festival illustrate the use of film as eyewitness and the citizen’s intervention in this regard. The experience of the discussants as film-makers and dynamic culture ambassadors in utilising film as a tool of witness would be useful as it would serve to broaden the perspectives of the audience.

Festival picks to look forward to include- " Our Beloved Sudan" by a female Director; Tagreed Elsanhouri, tells a tale of the two Sudans in the run up to independence celebration for South Sudan. Yoole describes the harsh ordeal undergone by young Senegales men who leave their homeland in search of better life. Closer to home, Akin Omotosho's "Man On Ground" which has been well received at global film festivals around the world, shall open the festival and, guests can look forward to a Q & A session with Omotosho himself.

To participate, send email to; info@lifehouselagos.com or by telephone to +234 703 403 0683 or +234 816 264 3836

Thank You.

for LCA!!!2012 Film Festival/The Life House

Toyin Akinosho, Publisher of Africa Oil & Gas Report and Secretary General of the CORA Art & Cultural Foundation has announced the dates for the 14th Lagos Book & Art Festival. The festival would hold from the 16th – 18th November 2012 at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos Island with a pre-event Publishers’ Forum and Cocktail holding on the 15th. A theme has also been announced for the Festival: The Narrative of Conflict-which focuses on how the written word and the literacy it engenders interrogates the different conflicts that surround our current existence and recent past. The festival is dedicated to the veteran artist Bruce Onabrakpeyawho turned 80 this year and whose work and dedication to the arts continue to be a source of inspiration to generations of Nigerians.

TheLagos Book & Art Festival, or LABAF as it’s often called, is a landmark event on the nation’s culture calendar with sprawling book displays,exhibitions, live music and drama performances and of course, nuanced literaryevents that take time out to dig deep into the content of books. Says Akinosho-“LABAF is self-styled as Africa’s Biggest Culture Picnic because we don’t just put together a book fair, a performance concert, a literary festival or an art expo, what we do is a healthy fusion ofall four in a festival atmosphere, and for the past 14 years, the festival hasbecome an important destination for families, literary and art enthusiasts, cultureproducers, children and even lovers. We have had people who came as childrenyears ago still attending now as young adults. We have also had people who metat the festival grounds for the first time years ago, still attending asmarried couples. What keeps them coming back is the way the festival allowsthem to engage with culture in a fun atmosphere, that is why it is Africa’sBiggest Culture Picnic.”

Setto hold this year from the 16th – 18th November atFreedom Park, 1 Hospital Road, Lagos Island, LABAF will feature over 10 bookevents, 3 music concerts, 2 theatre shows, 11 workshops for children and 2visual art exhibitions. There are over thirty books being discussed at thefestival including Fela: This Bitch ofa Life by CarlosMoore, Catch a Fire: The Lifeof Bob Marley by TimothyWhite. Power, Politics & Death by Segun Adeniyi, Bitter-SweetMy Life with Obasanjo by OluremiObasanjo,  A Measure of Grace by Akin Mabogunje, Bomboy, by YewandeOmotosho, Voice Of America, by E. C. Osondu, Stealth Of Nations: The Global Rise Of The Informal Economy, by Robert Neuwirth, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, Open Graveyard by Wale Osun, Out of theShadows by Kayode Fayemi, Roses and Bullets by AkachiAdimora Ezeigbo and Witness ToJustice by Bishop Mathew HassanKukah. Because the LABAF book events usually engage with books at a deeperlevel beyond the star power of the authors that produce them, most sessions areusually driven by robust discussion panels, some of the writers and thinkersconfirmed for these panels include: Sola Olorunyomi, Bisi Arije, Femi AkintundeJohnson, Toni Kan, Femi Aisida, Toki Mabogunje, Odili Ujubonu, Tolu Ogunlesi,Wale Ajao, Derin Ajao, Tunji Lardner, Niran Okewole, Tade Ipadeola, LayiwolaAdeniji, Eghosa Imasuen, AnwuliOjogwu, Kayode Komolafe amongstothers.

But LABAF is not just about heavy book events to getyou giddy with book knowledge. The Childrens’ Programme coordinated by ChildrenAnd The Environment (CATE) usually draws children in their thousands and willfeature loads of activities, workshops, talks and performances centered aroundthe festival theme of The Narrative of Conflict while marking the National CreativityDay and UN Child Rights Day.

Ina tightly packed performance bouquet, The Crown Troupe of Africa would bestaging Zainabu Jallo’s ‘Holy Night’ while the internationally acclaimedRenegade Theatre will also be taking the stage during the course of thefestival. Add to that a Jazz Concert produced by Inspiro Productions,storytelling, spoken word, music and reading sessions produced by Pulp Faction,Image & Heritage and Laipo, a return of CORA’s Great Highlife Party in thebiggest Highlife Concert in a long while, all rolled into a scenic venue with acaptivating history then you know why Freedom Park is the place to be from the16th – 18th November at the 14th Lagos Book& Art Festival!

Formore information on the festival and to contact the organizers, please visit: www.coraartfoundation.com

The top, open air floor of Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, with a grand view of the Freedom Park and parts of central Lagos, is the venue for the Art Stampede for Bruce Onobrakpeya at 80.

The event , set for 2pm on Sunday August 26, is the second on the scheduled list of activities commemorating the 80th birthday anniversary of the printmaker and patriarch of all of Nigeria’s culture producers. The Stampede is to interrogate the new consciousness in visual art documentation in the country.

Bruce Onobrakpeya was cited by the art historian Dele Jegede, in the 90s, as the most published and publicized artist in Nigeria. After spending considerable time and effort publishing coffee table books about his own art, he attracted international scholars who stepped in and rigorously documented him in beautifully laid out and bound coffee table books. Now that “tendency” is gaining momentum. The Nigerian art scene, today, sort of routinely produces fat, thoughtful, coffee table books on art that reside in private spaces in the country.

The stampede, 'From Brochure To Books, Emerging Trend In Visual Art Documentation', will feature panelists, some of them scholars, some of them collectors, some co-producers of such new books, to discuss the challenging process of production. Some of the books for discussion at the parley include: 'Making History, African Collectors and The Canon Of African Art' by Sylvester Ogbechie; 'Nigerian Artistry', by Pat Oyelola; 'New Trees In Old Forests; Contemporary Nigerian Art in Lagos Private Collections', edited by Jess Castellote; 'A Celebration of Modern Nigerian Art – 101 Nigerian Artists', by Chukwuemeka Bosah and George Edozie; 'Ben Enwonwu: The Making of an African Modernist', by Sylvester Ogbechie.

The discussion will be used as a peg to look at prospects of documenting arts generally in other format — Film and Audio.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151157916830049&set=a.446231745048.223534.616045048&type=1&theater