Culturati is set to hold its annual culture edutainment festival scheduled for December 3 this year in Lagos.
This year marks the 15th edition of Culturati, and with its theme, ‘Bringing Africa to Lagos’ Culturati 2021 seeks to advance the essence of African culture by situating it as a potent tool for tourism exploration and a catalyst for social and economic transformation.
Speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Lagos, the convener and CEO Culturati, Idris Aregbe, noted that Africa has an enviable culture, full of aspiration and vitality, warning that for Africa to truly attain the status of a developed continent, there is a need to identify the critical elements of its culture and harness them for development.
“The creative industry holds a huge prospect for youth as that is an area that can conveniently accommodate African youths, endowed with a plethora of creative talents.
“The gap in the strategic needs of African countries can be bridged by well articulated direction of the creative industry, where the energy of youths can be guided to meaningfully and sustainably contribute to socio-economic fortunes. This is what Culturati is about,” he emphasised
Aregbe continued that the idea behind Culturati is to engage, empower and support communities to not just participate in the arts and in the preservation of our cultural heritage. It is also to hone and position it as a catalyst for continental growth and development in the millennium.
Meanwhile, mark this year’s edition, a symposium with key discussion on “Positioning African culture as a catalyst for social cohesion, tourism promotion and economic development” has been scheduled to hold at Freedom Park, Lagos Island on October 17 by 11am to mark this year’s edition.
Shedding light on the rationale behind the symposium, the CEO disclosed that the symposium would essentially focus on exploring how the strong potentials in African culture could be modulated and accelerated towards socio-economic development.
“The critical elements of discussion on the day will border on how to engender collaboration, partnership, investment, funding in tourism and other areas of economic prospects and value that can be accrued from strategically exploring African culture beyond passion,” he added.
According to the CEO, “One goal of Culturati has remained the turning of passion into profit, whereby the reach of traditional cultures is extended through collaborative effort and partnerships that rewards cultural excellence, empowers young cultural buffs, creates business opportunities for many to leverage on while celebrating Africa’s rich, diverse cultural heritage.”
The annual event, with several activities, colorful, scintillating and entertaining has enlightenment and empowerment at its core.
This year as the event is tagged, Bringing Africa to Lagos, people from several parts of Africa and beyond will converge in Lagos to, as the theme of this year’s event infers, ‘advance the essence of African culture,’ will explore avenues and build frameworks where African culture can be translated into a sustainable vehicle for creative expressions, value creation, youth empowerment and other economic objectives that resonate with global sustainable development goals (SDGs).
He hinted that such is the logic that informed the establishment of Culturati Academy by the culture connoisseur last year considering an already saturated labor market on the one hand, and the rising role of technology, demographic shifts and urbanisation on the other.
The academy which has empowered a number of youths with different opportunities, is according to Aregbe, envisioned and established as a vocational platform for the development of skills that can contribute to structural transformation and economic growth by enhancing employability and labor productivity.
“The prime goal of Culturati Academy is to bridge the gap in youth unemployment, to make graduates of the Academy self-sustained manufacturers and economic agents. Ultimately, Culturati Academy will be established in cities across Africa,” said Aregbe.
