The European Union has pledged fresh funding for Nigeria’s creative sector, promising new projects to empower artists and support cultural events across the country.
The EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, disclosed this on Saturday during the opening day of the maiden edition of the Lagos Contemporary Circus Festival held at Lawn A of the National Theatre, Surulere, Lagos.
The two-day festival brought together circus artists from Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Switzerland, with performances featuring dance, acrobatics, juggling and other forms of contemporary circus.
Mignot said the EU was committed to providing greater support for culture, the arts and the creative economy, particularly in the face of global challenges.
He said, “In this troubled time that the world is going through, we need more support for culture and artists.
“We need more cultural action, not less. We need more funding for culture, for the arts, for the creative economy. And that’s why we’ve been supporting some of the creative summits.
“We are coming with new cooperation projects, new funding for artists across Africa, through the Europe-Africa Partnerships for Culture, to boost and empower African artists and promote co-creation with European artists. So we are very glad to support this first edition of the Lagos Contemporary Circus Festival.”
The ambassador said the EU would also continue to partner with cultural organisations and support events across Nigeria, including the National Theatre and the Lagos Biennial of Contemporary Art.
He added, “The European Union is coming up with new projects and funding for cultural events across the country, with partners like the National Theatre.
“We supported the recent Kano Creative Summit organised by the National Theatre. We are partnering with a series of film festivals across the country.
“We are coming up also with new projects to empower artists across Africa and also fund more co-creations between European and African artists.”
Mignot, who described the festival as “very international, colourful, full of energy and very modern,” said he hoped it would become a regular event that would attract more artists from Africa, Europe and beyond.
“What we hope is that this festival will continue over time into the next year; that other sponsors also will step in and that it will become a regular festival, having more international artists coming from across Africa, Europe and beyond,” he said.
On her part, the General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the National Theatre, Tola Akerele, said the festival was aimed at increasing awareness of contemporary circus and showcasing Nigeria’s potential in the art form.
Akerele said the success of the festival would be measured by how well the audience understood contemporary circus and recognised the potential for Nigerians to develop their own stories through the art.
“Success would be the fact that people understand what contemporary circus is. But there’s so much potential. And we see that Nigerians are really talented. They’re natural,” she said.
According to her, contemporary circus combines several art forms, including dance, movement, acrobatics and sport, adding that Nigeria had the talent and cultural resources to develop its own contemporary circus stories.
“Contemporary circus is dance, it’s movement, it’s acrobatics, it’s sport. It’s physical as well. So we have what it takes to create our own contemporary circus story,” Akerele said.
She expressed satisfaction with the turnout at the festival and called for greater support for cultural activities.
“Everyone here is really enjoying themselves. We want to do more of this. Nigeria deserves more.
“This place was built for culture. We need to do more of this. So we want everyone to just support these sorts of activities,” she said.
Akerele added that the diverse audience, comprising children, young adults and older people, was encouraging and that the organisers had collected attendees’ email addresses to keep them informed about future performances.