Yinka Olatunbosun
For over ten years, the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange, WSICE has been a global networking and empowerment platform for scholars of like-minds and intellectuals. This year, however, the WSICE in its 13th year refocused its agenda strictly on discovering and grooming young intellectuals and change-3 from around the world, through its newly initiated International Youth Assembly, IYA.
The IYA formed the nucleus of the three-in-one programming contents for the 2021 edition of the project, held in hybrid format (online and on-site) on July 13 and 14 at the Ijegba Forest Home of the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
“Through the IYA, we intend for young people from diverse parts and cultures of the world to connect, engage and learn from one another as well as receive mentoring from eminent resource persons, who are themselves leaders in their individual area of discipline,” stated Teju Kareem, the executive producer of the project, who is also the CEO of ZMirage Multimedia Company.
With the theme “That Our FUTURE May Not DISAPPEAR” was specially conceived to address the widespread incident of ‘disappearing humanity’ through acts of kidnapping, abductions, human ‘cancels’, social and cultural discriminations on the bases of colour, creed, faith, physio-mental features and others.”
The WSICE EP, Kareem declared: “Seventeen youths from four continents had been elected to explore the theme to help the young ones frame their thoughts about the future of our collective humanity.”
Produced by Aduke Aladekomo, the International Youth Assembly featured past winners of the yearly WSICE essay contests joined by contemporaries from other countries and cultures. Other parts of the programme included the Advocacy Session, which featured eminent cultural and educational leaders named “Advocates of Conscience”.
The WSICE also renewed its partnership with the San Diego State University, SDSU in the United States, as the virtual host. Moderated by Victory Ashaka, a multi-award-winning spoken word artist, and climate change activist and Anjolaoluwa Olanrewaju, another multi-talented creative, the selected speakers were drawn from Nigeria, USA, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Spain and Angola.
The Advocacy Session attracted a pool of resource persons such as Mutabaruka, a Jamaican Rastafarian dub poet, musician, actor, educator, and talk-show host, who developed two of Jamaica’s most popular radio programmes, The Cutting Edge and Steppin’ Razor; Segun Adefila, a Nigerian actor, dancer, choreographer, director, culture advocate and the founder/artistic director, Crown Troupe of Africa, who deploys the instrumentality of the arts to advocate for social causes and better human family. Others are Seyi Oluyole a Nigerian creative director, screenwriter and choreographer and the founder of Dreamcatchers Academy; Russell Low, a Chinese-American physician with a passion for discovery and storytelling; Jian Wang, a Chinese cellist Jian Wang who has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the Pacific Symphony, the American Youth Symphony, the YMF Début Orchestra and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra of China.
