Ngozi Jibulu
Alewa House, a Jos-based creative hub, has announced plan to leverage technology for the growth of the creative industry in Nigeria.
To this end, the hub is putting together devices, particularly digital tools, networking arena for folks in the cultural and creative industries, and an army of geeks to open endless opportunities in a digital creative economy.
Speaking on the initiative, Chief Executive Officer, Alewa House, Mr. Daser Retnan, a software developer and co-Founder of the geo-location solutions tech startup, Logical Address, noted that when arts and culture meets technology, the possibilities are endless and the outcomes are unpredictably remarkable.
He disclosed that “Alewa House is focusing on talent discovery and outsourcing; creating an environment with skilled enthusiastic young people thereby preventing a capital flight; opening inter-communal dialogue through arts, innovations and technology. Ultimately, it promotes individuality, creativity, innovation and narration.
“The creative hub adopts a multi-stakeholder approach to arts promotions, management and talent nurturing because we believe that everyone has a role to play in the narration building process.
“It’s because of this that the house seeks to fulfil its mandate to become the go-to place for entertainment and reduce capital flight by 50 per cent per cent before 2029,” said Retnan.
Retnan added that Plateau State is widely known for being a creative incubator for artistic talents in Nigeria for a long time. “According to the Institute of African Intelligence, 26 per cent of successful utilisation of creative talents in Nigeria in the last 30 years are affiliated with Jos,” stated Retnan.
“We are currently embarking on a project that ensures coordination and cooperation between government and stakeholders in the creative industry to galvanise support for arts related initiatives in the state, and also develop collaborative partnerships with all practitioners across diverse fields to bolster the peace building efforts of the country through arts” he added.
Globally, the creative economy makes up no less than three per cent of the world’s GDP and employs 29.5 million people, according to the BBC. In the UK, the creative industry is the fastest growing sector and valued at £92 billion.”
Retnan, said the hub has successfully unraveled the creative talents of Mr. Emmanuel Adeyemi, an Afro-pop artiste signed with Alewa House, whose music centres on societal growth. It will be signing more in the weeks ahead. He added that Alewa House had also developed a software application to help bring together industry actors for maximum productivity.
“From point of ideation to downstream impact, technology drives everything including discovering artistic individuals and creating the values across the entire creative chain. We are currently working on staging the biggest music festival in Nigeria in 2020 inside the city of Jos.
He further disclosed that Alewa House had already opened conversation with Facebook on the use of technology to broadcast live musical concerts in Virtual Reality (VR).
