Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange 2016 Countdown: Meet the Advocacy Panel

Immense progress has been made so far in the preparations for the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange Project as confirmation has started coming in from invited guests while the secondary school students having submitted their pre-screening essays,are set for the non-competitive essay holding on 13^th July, 2016.

Dr. (Mrs) Olufunso Amosun will be holding a special mentorship session with the students of Ogun State and other youths at the main Hall of The Ogun State Cultural Centre, Abeokuta on the topic: CHALLENGES OR NOT; I LOVE MY COUNTRY.

One of the highlights of this year’s event is the presentation of cheques to the remaining winners of the Project WS Essay competition from 2014 and 2015 who are yet to receive their scholarship money. The management of the project has faced some financial challenges in the past 2 years due to lack of sponsorship. This year’s event is not any different as sponsorship has been scarce but we do not want to drop the ball on the event as we are aware of the immense impact it has had on some of our past participants, both teenagers and adults.

AlhajiTeju Kareem said, in line with the theme for this year’s event, the organizers want to walk their talk by ensuring that all promises made have been fulfilled as promises made, with intention of not fulfilling, can also be termed corruption.

The Panelists will be speaking on the topic CORRUPTION AS IT AFFECTS CHILDREN, WOMEN AND OUR HUMANITY.

The Chairperson of the event, Professor Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka is an interdisciplinary scholar, OmofolaboAjayi-Soyinka’s teaching, research, and creative works encompass theatre, literary and gender studies, including the theories that inform them.

Professor Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka works examine discourses on power, gender, race, and nationality especially in Africa and the Diaspora. Author of several books and chapters, her recent publication is a co- edited collection of poems, "Reflections: An Anthology of New Works by African Women Poets. (2013). Choreographer, and dancer, she has worked with several playwrights, directors and given performances both in Nigeria and internationally.

Expected at the Advocacy lecture this year are the all-female Panelists.

Hafsat Abiola Costello is a Nigerian human rights, civil rights and democracy activist, founder of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), which seeks to strengthen civil society and promote democracy in Nigeria. Abiola graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1992 and Harvard College in 1996. She received an honorary doctorate from Haverford College. Abiola is the founder of China-Africa Bridge and China Africa Forum, which promotes mutually beneficial cross-cultural collaboration between China and Africa, with a specific eye on women’s contributions to the economy. In 2015 she was chosen to be one of 21 women who met for a conference at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government funded by Hunt Alternatives.

Kadaria Ahmed is an international journalist, editor, social commentator and TV personality. She moderated Nigeria’s 2011 vice-presidential and presidential debates.

Sola Salako (The Anchor) is a freelance writer and industry critic, she produced and presented the First Consumer TV show PROMOWORLD on Lagos Television for 3 years and contributed to various journals, Newspapers and Magazines on Marketing/Advertising issues. Sola pioneered the first consumer rights media campaign with the Handwriting on the Wall column in ThisDay Newspaper. She also held the first Nigerian Consumer Sensitivity Awards in 2004. Vibrant personality, a proficient public speaker, strong writing and presentation skills, a committed and loyal team player, makes friends easily and eager to help with strong creative and ideas generating skills.

Rose Moses was the South West Editor of the AUTHORITY NEWSPAPERS Limited up until March 2016, having also served as Managing Editor and member, Editorial Board of Champion Newspapers Limited, Ilasamaja, Lagos. Before then, she was made Editor of Saturday Champion on November 10, 2005, an office she held till January 2011, and therefore an active member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. She is currently a visiting member of the Editorial Board of INDEPENDENT Newspapers, where she also serves as Contributing Editor.Although she started her journalism career in 1990 as Staff Writer with the defunct Satellite Newspapers limited in Enugu state, she joined Champion Newspapers in Lagos, in 1993.Among other positions she has held include Deputy Editor, Daily Champion, fromApril to November 2005; Deputy Editor, Saturday Champion, from January 2004 to April 2005; Society Editor, Daily Champion, from April 2003 to January 2004; Deputy Features Editor, Daily Champion from February 2000 to April 2003.
Ms. Ahmed started her career in journalism with the BBC in London where she worked as a journalist/senior producer across different parts of the organization, including the newsroom and on the two flagships programmes for Africa: Focus on Africa and Network Africa.She has reported from diverse places such as Eritrea, the United States and South Africa and interviewed notable personalities. She was also part of a select BBC team of 4 that provided annual briefings on Africa to members of the British parliament.

The Special Guest of Honor Professor Femi Osofisan as well as the Keynote speakers, Comrade Tunde Fagbenle and Professor Segun Ojewuyi have also confirmed their attendance.

The Guest of honor, Professor Femi Osofisan has served at the University of Ibadan as Acting Head of the erstwhile Department of Modern Languages; Acting Head and Head of the Department of Theatre Arts, and was a member of Senate from 1980 till 2011, when he took his mandatory retirement. He has also held similar positions at the University of Benin, where he first became a full professor in 1983.A restless artist and multiple award winner, he has published, both in his own name and under the pseudonym of “Okinba Launko”, over four dozens of plays (including The Chattering and the Song; Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels; Morountodun; Once Upon Four Robbers; The Oriki of a Grasshopper; Twingle-Twangle; Who’s Afraid of Solarin? (plus its Yoruba version, Yeepa, Solarin N Bo!); Tegonni; Aringindin and the Nightwatchmen; Bishop Ajayi Crowther; Nkrumah-ni, Africa-ni!; Reel, Rwanda; Midnight Hotel; Women of Owu,etc)

The first Keynote Speaker, Mr. Tunde Fagbenle is a media entrepreneur. He began his media career as Managing Editor of international TRAVELS magazine in 1978. He is chairman of Alfa Communications Ltd, a publishing and media consulting outfit which he co-founded in 1984, renowned for its authoritative Nigeria Banking Annual with its celebrated pioneering Banker of the Year Award. He was publisher of the defunct popular 'Nigeria Home news' weekly newspaper published in London from 1989-1992, and CEO of Terra Firma Agencies of Goodge Street, London. Mr Fagbenle is more widely known in Nigeria for his long running but now rested, hard-hitting, forthright column on the back page of the SUNDAY PUNCH, a column which had appeared at different times in the SUNDAY TRIBUNE and TRUST newspapers.

The second keynote speaker, Professor Segun Ojewuyi is a scholar and theatre director. A fellow of the Salzburg seminar, Ojewuyi has taught at the University of Lagos, Nigeria; The Yale University undergraduate studies, the Yale special summer Acting program and Rowan University, New Jersey. He currently teaches in the department of Africana studies at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois USA. He was the chair of the University’s fine Arts Activities Committee from 2008 to 2011. He is winner of the Pittsburgh African American Committee for the Arts 2007 Best Director Award for the film ’The heart of the Father’ by CBN. He has been a recipient of the British Council Commonwealth Fellowship; a Ford Foundation/Arts International Professional fellowship Award; the Horowitz Foundation Fellowship; the Rowan University Centre for scholarly Excellency Recognition Award in two consecutive years.

Guests and theatre lovers can look forward to an intellectual but fun evening at the advocacy lecture of this year’s Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange Project.

Meet the Advocates: Tunde fagbenle [3/5]

Tunde Fagbenle

Mr Tunde Fagbenle is a media entrepreneur. He began his media career as Managing Editor of international TRAVELS magazine in 1978. He is chairman of Alfa Communications Ltd, a publishing and media consulting outfit which he co-founded in 1984, renowned for its authoritative Nigeria Banking Annual with its celebrated pioneering Banker of the Year Award. 

Mr Fagbenle was publisher of the defunct popular 'Nigeria Homenews' weekly newspaper published in London from 1989-1992, and CEO of Terra Firma Agencies of Goodge Street, London. 

When the late General Abacha came to power, Mr Fagbenle founded the UK based Movement for Democracy & a Human Rights in Nigeria campaigning against further military rule in Nigeria and the validation of Chief MKOAbiola's mandate as democratically elected President of Nigeria. The activism together his strident column in the Nigerian PUNCH newspaper earned him a solitary detention stint by Abacha's military government in 1996 when he visited Nigeria. 

Mr Fagbenle is more widely known in Nigeria for his long running but now rested, hard-hitting, forthright column on the back page of the SUNDAY PUNCH, a column which had appeared at different times in the SUNDAY TRIBUNE and TRUST newspapers.

He is author of two books: Nigeria: This Is My Country, Damn It - published in 2001; and, Nigeria, A Thousand Laughs, a Thousand Cries - published in 2010, with Professor Wole Soyinka as the Guest Speaker at the launch of the book.

Born on October 4, 1947, Mr. Fagbenle turns 70 next year, 2017.

Mr Tunde Fagbenle is an advocate amongst five others for this year's edition of the WSICE [Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange]

Meet the Advocates: Omofolabi Ajayi-Soyinka [4/5]

Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka

An interdisciplinary scholar, Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka’s teaching, research, and creative works encompass theatre, literary and gender studies, including the theories that inform them. Her works examine, discourses on power, gender, race, and nationality especially in Africa and the Diaspora. Author of several books and chapters, her recent publication is a co- edited collection of poems, "Reflections: An Anthology of New Works by African Women Poets. (2013). Choreographer, and dancer, she has worked with several playwrights, directors and given performances both in Nigeria and internationally.

Ajayi-Soyinka’ recently retired from the University of Kansas, Lawrence where she was head of 

faculty in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Theatre Department. She taught for many years in the Dramatic Arts Department at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria. As Professor emeritus, she continues to engage with research, publications and giving public lectures . She is currently working on 'Women in Lagos State,' her poetry collection, and exploring  relationship between African migrants and African Americans.

Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka is an advocate amongst others for this year's edition of WSICE [Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange].

Meet the Advocates: Femi Osofisan [5/5]

Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan, NNOM, FNAL.

Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan (aka Okinba Launko) was born at Erunwon, where his Idomila-Iloto father was headmaster, on the 16th June 1946. After primary schooling in various towns, including Ilesa, Ife, Erunwon and Ifo, he finally had his secondary education at the Government College, Ibadan. From there, he proceeded to the University of Ibadan where, after a year abroad at the Université de Dakar, Senegal, he obtained a BA [Second Class Upper] Honours degree in French.

Osofisan then proceeded to the Sorbonne, in Paris, for his postgraduate studies, but returned two years later to take his PhD at the University of Ibadan. After this, he joined the faculty of Ibadan as Assistant Lecturer, and rose through the ranks to the post of Professor in 1985.

Prof Osofisan has served as Acting Head of the erstwhile Department of Modern Languages; Acting Head and Head of the Department of Theatre Arts, and was a member of Senate from 1980 till 2011, when he took his mandatory retirement. He has also held similar positions at the University of Benin, where he first became a full professor in 1983.

Apart from Benin, Osofisan has been a Visiting Professor or Visiting Playwright to several other institutions both at home—(e.g. Obafemi University, Ile Ife; University of Ilorin; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye; Kwara State University, Ilorin, etc.)—and abroad, including the Universities of Legon, Ghana; Bénin in Lome, Togo; Yaoundé in Cameroon; Leeds and Northampton in the UK; Edinburgh in Scotland; Humboldt and Bayreuth in Germany; Athens in Greece; Colombo in Sri Lanka; Toronto and York in Canada; as well as Iowa, Northwestern, Pennsylvania, DePauw, Madison, New York, Ohio-Columbus, Bloomington, and Emory Universities, all in the USA; and Peking University, in China.

Professor Osofisan was a member of the pioneering “Think Tank” that set up the Guardian newspapers in 1983 and later, the Comet, and was on their Editorial Boards for several years. He was also a regular columnist for a number of national newspapers.

A restless artist and multiple award winner, he has published, both in his own name and under the pseudonym of “Okinba Launko”, over four dozens of plays (including The Chattering and the Song; Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels; Morountodun; Once Upon Four Robbers; The Oriki of a Grasshopper; Twingle-Twangle; Who’s Afraid of Solarin? (plus its Yoruba version, Yeepa, Solarin N Bo!); Tegonni; Aringindin and the Nightwatchmen; Bishop Ajayi Crowther; Nkrumah-ni, Africa-ni!; Reel, Rwanda; Midnight Hotel; Women of Owu, etc), plus five novellas (Kolera Kolej; Ma’ami (now a film in the same title); Cordelia; Wuraola Forever; and Pirates); and six volumes of poetry (Minted Coins’ Ire Ni!; Dreamseeker on a Divining Chain; Pain Remembers, Love Rekindles;  Commemorations, and recently, Seven Stations Up the Tray’s Way). He is also the author of the acclaimed biography of J.P. Clark, entitled, J.P. Clark: A Voyage.

Professor Osofisan has been honoured with Fellowships from various international bodies, including the British Council, the International Writers Programme at Iowa, the Henri Clewes Foundation in Napoule, France, the Ragdale Foundation at Lake Forest, and International Research Institute at the Freie University in Berlin. He was Drama Consultant to FESTAC 77, to MAMSER, and to the 8^th All-Africa Games (COJA). From 2000 to 2004 he served as the General Manager and Chief Executive of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos; and from 2000 to 2012 was Executive Consultant, CHAMS Theatre Project.

As a scholar, Professor Osofisan has to his credit four books of published essays, including The Nostalgic Drum, published by Howard University Press in Washington, and The Muse of Anomy published by the Carolina University Press; plus five edited books; several monographs and essays in learned journals; as well as three books of translation.

He is a former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors [ANA]; former President of International PEN, Nigeria Chapter; and a current Vice-President of the Pan African Writers Association [PAWA]. In early 2013, he successfully convened the very first Playwrights’ Confab in the country, followed by the second one in 2005.

Osofisan was honoured with the French National Order of Merit Award in 1991; the University of Ibadan Faculty of Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2001; the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award, (which is the highest award for Nigerian academics), in 2004; and the prestigious, international Fonlon-Nichols Award in 2005. A year later, in 2006, he became a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.

Osofisan was made Emeritus Professor at the University of Ibadan in 2014, and is currently Distinguished Professor at the Kwara State University, Malete, Ilorin as well as Visiting Professor at the Peking University, Beijing, China. This year (2006), he became the first African winner of the international Thalia Prize.

He is married to Professor (Mrs.) Adenike Osofisan, the first female professor of Computer Science in Africa, and current Director of the Business School of the University of Ibadan. Together they have four children.

Professor Emeritus Femi Osofisan is one of the advocates for this year's edition of WSICE [Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange].

Open Door Series: WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE 2016

Open Door Series: WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE 2016: WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE 2016 PRESS RELEASE The annual WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE (WSICE) will h...

WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE 2016

WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE 2016

PRESS RELEASE

The annual WOLE SOYINKA INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE (WSICE) will hold July 13 and 14, 2016. As is traditional to the project in past six years, it is to coincide with the 82^nd birthday anniversary of the Nobel laureate, Professor Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka, who is the grand motivation behind the project, and after whom it is named. The WSICE is organised yearly under the auspices of the Open Door Series as designed and promoted by Z-mirage Multimedia Limited in collaboration with the US-based GlobalNewHaven.

As a common feature of the project in the past six years, themes and topics to be addressed by the various segments of the programme, are selected to reflect current happenings in Nigeria and around the world.

The overall theme for this year is CORRUPTION: A BATTLE FOR THE ARTS, which is however calibrated for the two segments of the project- - the youth and the adult segments.  The youth segment will feature an essay writing competition by students, while the adult segment will feature two keynotes on the main theme as well as an all-female panel of discussion on Corruption as it affects Children, Women and our common Humanity.

For the youth segment, the theme for the annual essay competition, is “CHALLENGES OR NOT, I LOVE MY COUNTRY”, and the writing competition will feature 82 students tackling the topic -- in a reality television-like setting. In addition, 18 past winners of the yearly competition will be congregated to write commemorative essays on same topic.

The Wife of the Ogun State Governor, Her Excellency Mrs. Olufunso Amosun will have a special mentorship session with the 82 student essayists and 18 past winners, along with 1000 other children from various schools in and around Ogun State on the youth essay topic CHALLENGES OR NOT, I LOVE MY COUNTRY. This is a tradition which Mrs Amosun has held strong over the years as it presents one more opportunity for her to impact and encourage the youths.

According to Alhaji Teju Kareem, executive producer of the WSICE, "This year’s theme/topic for the youth segment, is aimed at awakening the patriot in young Nigerians, even as many in the older generation have become disillusioned due to the recurrent failure of the Nigerian State. As usual, the 82 student essayist and 18 past winners along with WSICE officials will pay a courtesy visit to His Excellency, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, The Governor of Ogun State and afterwards, proceed to the country home of the Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka at Ijegba for a unique personal one-on-one experience. “And for the adult segment, the choice of topic for the Advocacy forum is to weigh in on the current battle against corruption by the government, especially to see how the arts can use its civilizing principles and tools to help the society cleanse itself of the virus of material and moral corruption”. Kareem added, "the arts cannot thrive proficiently in an environment polluted by the pervasive scourge of graft and moral decadence. "The Open Door Series WSICE began in 2010 as an avenue to enlighten and enrich young minds through the use of various art forms including literature. It is conceived to engage the platforms of Literature, Arts and Culture in affirming and upholding the dignity of man.

“Focusing on the youths as the future of humanity, the WSICE seeks to foster unity among mankind regardless of nationality, ethnicity and religion. The project aims to combat fear, socio- cultural and religious intolerance amongst humanity and in its place foster a sense of unity, tolerance of diversity and subsequent embrace of and respect for each other’s differences”, said Kareem.

Producer of the series, Haneefat lkharo, stated, "The youths (secondary school age) are our main target because we believe at that age, their minds are still open to receive and process change and they are also curious enough to explore and accept the unique nature of mankind."

Features of the 2016 edition are:

·      

     The Special Non-Competitive Essay Writing

All past winners of the essay competition from the past six years have been invited to come together for a special non-competitive essay.  All the essays will be edited and subsequently published into a book. Also present to write an essay on the same topic will be 82 students from various schools in and around Ogun State preselected to symbolically signpost the fact that Prof. Wole Soyinka (the pivot of the project) will be 82 years old on July 13^th 2016.

·        Do Your Own Thing and Film Show

This is the section of the program where 1000 students are given an opportunity to exhibit their innate talent through other mini competitions like Spelling Bee, Dancing Competition, fashion Parade, Debates etc.

This year, along with the mini competitions, we will be showing a film titled “YEEPA!!! ” Tunde Kelani’s adaptation of Femi Osofisan’s “WHO’S AFRAID OF SOLARIN”.

·        Advocacy Lecture

The very heart of the International Cultural Exchange Project, it is designed to mobilise the older generation, especially those in the arts and the humanities, to rub minds on crucial areas of the country’s politics and policies as they affect our collective humanity.  The topic for this year’s advocacy is “CORRUPTION: A BATTLE FOR THE ARTS”, and it will feature keynotes and an all-female- panel discussion around the ongoing War Against Corruption as championed by the current national government. Eminent scholars and public intellectuals have been lined up to handle various strands of the theme.

WSICE 2016 is a two day event spanning the 13^th and 14^th of July. The event breakdown is as follows:

13^th July 2016

·       10am: Arrival and Registration of Students at Cultural Centre Abeokuta

·       12pm: Lunch

·       1pm: Essay Writing Commences

    

    14^th July, 2016

·       11am to 1pm: Do your Own Thing/Film Show

  Special Mentorship by Her Excellency Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, Wife of the Ogun State Governor.

·       

    Advocacy Lecture

       Theme: CORRUPTION: A BATTLE FOR THE ARTS

 7pm: Drama excerpts to open -- 30 mins

 7.30 -7.40: Special Guest – Femi Osofisan (Emeritus Prof. of Theatre Arts) – 10 minutes

 7.40-7.50pm: Chair: Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka,

 (Emeritus Professor of Gender studies & Theatre, The University of Kansas) – 10 minutes

7.50-8.10pm: 1^st Keynote – 20 mins

CORRUPTION: A BATTLE FOR THE ARTS,

 by Comrade Tunde Fagbenle, Public Commentator  

8.10-8.30pm: 2^nd Keynote -- 20 mins

        SOYINKA’S TEXT AND THE BATTLE AGAINST GRAFT:

          A Director’s study of Death & the King’s Horseman,
         by Professor Segun Ojewuyi  

        (Head of Directing, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale USA)

        (To commemorate 40 years of the drama text)

8.30-8.45pm: Drama Presentation – 15 mins

        DIRECTING ‘CORRUPTION’ IN SOYINKA’S WORKS

       (Drama Excerpts presentation),
       devised by Dr Tunde Awosanmi

       (Head of Dept. Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan)

8.45-9.30pm: Panel  -- 15 mins

   CORRUPTION AS IT AFFECTS CHILDREN, WOMEN…

    & OUR HUMANITY
   Kadaria Ahmed, Ex-Editor, NEXT 234

    Hafsat Abiola Costello, founder, KIND

    Rose Moses, Ex-Editor, Champion Newspaper

    Sola Salako, convener No Banking Day (Anchor)

9.30-9.45: Q & A

9.45-10pm: Cultural showcase to close