Fashola opens Black Heritage Festival, names art gallery after Soyinka

GOVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State yesterday commissioned an ultra modern art gallery and Exhibition Centre at the Freedom Park, Lagos Island and named it after Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, in recognition of his role in preserving African cultural heritage.
Fashola, who also declared the 2012 Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF) open at the Freedom Park, said the art gallery was named after Soyinka in appreciation of his contribution to the work of arts and African cultural heritage, adding the festival would further showcase Africa’s rich culture and promote the nation’s tourism potential.
He said the 2012 festival with theme, “The Black in the Mediterranean Blues” will feature a host of activities that will endear tourists to the country.
“This festival also signals the beginning of our tourist week that climaxes on Monday with the Lagos carnival that builds up with boat regatta that has respite of a beauty pageant and so many other events that will also take place in this very hallow ground of the Freedom Park. To our guests from within and outside the country and the participants from within and from other parts of the world, I welcome you warmly.”
The art gallery named: ‘Kongi Harvest’s Art Galleries’ is said to house many Africa’s artifacts and other literary works.
The festival will feature parade of masquerades from across states in Nigeria, while other social events such as music, contemporary dance, painting and photo exposition, drama, design and fashion display and cultural explorations will take centre stage in the seven-day event.
According to the festival consultant, Soyinka, who established the theme of the festival, the LBHF 2012 will be launched in series with a cultural exploration of the Italian connection.
Soyinka said the choice of Italy was informed by the country’s black connection and her exploits in Eritrea and Ethiopia and the way the Italian government returned some of the stolen African artifacts in its collection, saying that next year edition will be Portugal followed by Brazil.
On the thrust of the festival, he said: “In its effort to broaden and deepen the knowledge of Africa of herself, both historically and contemporaneously, always within the context of Recall and Celebration, the LBHF has embarked on no less a concept than the mapping out of the Black African presence in the Mediterranean under the theme Black Mediterranean.”