Osun Osogbo: Handshake across the sea

Booker, Akinola
| credits: File copy

A just concluded Trade, Investment and Culture Conference held in Osogbo, Osun State, brings indigenous artists to a roundtable with some American experts, AKEEM LASISI writes

During her first year in the graduate school at the Yale University, US, Sheriden Booker, an African American, had a Yoruba professor, as one of her lecturers. On walking into his class the first day, a naming ceremony instinct – Africans, especially the Yoruba, are never devoid of this – gripped the lecturer. He told Booker, “I have a name for you: Wuraola!”

With the appellation meaning gold and wealth, the lady’s beauty must have inspired the teacher to give her Wuraola – or Wura, for short, a name that is also in the realm of Iyunade. At first, Booker could not appreciate the import of the tag. But apart from the fact that some folks started calling her so, her interest in Yoruba culture, which later grew as she plunged into academic and geographical romance with Nigeria, later made her to accept it with passion.

That is why when the lady that began her career in the culture industries at the Walt Disney Television Production Studios in Burbank, California, and who has since 2005 worked for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, among other similar outfits, decided to form a company, she could not resist calling it WURArts Service & Productions. According to her, the organisation is an independent arts consulting and production outfit dedicated to the marriage of creative thought and strategic growth.

Booker, with a Ph.D. from Yale, and a Professional Certificate in Arts Administration from New York University, is one of the experts and investors that the Osun State Government assembled from the United States for a Trade, Investment and Culture Conference, which held between Tuesday and Thursday in Osogbo. An extension of the Osun Osogbo Festival, which peaks today (Friday) at the state capital, the conference was organised by the Office of Economic Development and Partnership, which has Dr. Charles Akinola as the director-general.

Among the about 20 experts on the mission are a professor of photography and photojournalism, School of Communication at Point Park University, Christopher Rolinson; President/CEO, Afrika Yetu, Elie Kihonia, who is also the founder of Afrika Yetu and UMOJA African Arts Company; President/CEO, Did Associates, Dinae Daniels, Head of Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Melon University, Philip Miller; the Executive Director of CEED, a non-governmental organisation, Rufus Idris; and, President, Monarch Environmental Inc., Robert Sharder. While they engaged entrepreneurs and artists drawn from various parts of the state in conversations that could lead into partnerships, a major aspect of the conference was a Culture Roundtable, where the international resource persons mated ideas with several cultural icons, largely of Osun descent.

These include celebrated batik artist and designer, Nike Okundaye; beadwork and mosaic artist, Jimoh Ibraimoh; music and visual artist, Muraino Oyelami; a sculptor, Kasali Akangbe-Ogun, renowned traditionalist and Ifa poet, Yemi Elebuibon; international artist and dancer, Peter Badejo (OBE).

In the lecture series at the programme held at the International Centre for Culture and Understanding, the Chief Executive Officer and Creative Director, My World of Bags, Mr. Femi Olayebi, spoke on ‘Product Development and the Tourism Economy’, while the Deputy Director, British Council, Ojoma Ochai, spoke on ‘Arts, Culture and Tourism in the Creative Economy’. On her part, Booker spoke on ‘Cross Cultural Exchange in the Osun Tourism Economy and Partnerships in the Tourism Economy of the State of Osun. The Festival consultant, Tope Babayemi, who is also the CEO of Different Aesthetics Arts and Culture Management, spoke on How a Strong Local Culture and Creativity can Deliver Sustainable Cultural Tourism.

But part of the significance of the conference is that it brought other big players in the art, culture and entertainment industry into the fold. Among them were Mr. Ben Tomoloju, seasoned producer Laolu Akins; and Mr. Ololade Olaopa, who coordinated the Experience Osun exhibition aspect of it.

At the opening ceremony that featured performances and motivational talks, the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, noted that the conference aimed at providing an opportunity for relevant partners and stakeholders to interact, in order to come up with innovative solutions that would increase investment efforts and create sustainable partnerships that would enrich the lives of Osun people.

Noting that it came at an appropriate time, Aregbesola, who was hailed by Booker for his interest in the culture sector, added that Osun is a treasured cultural haven, with one of its most significant landmarks being the existence of Ile-Ife, described as the cradle of the Yoruba race there.

He said, “The State of Osun occupies a central place in Nigeria’s cultural tourism map. Besides Ife, there are numerous centres of cultural and tourism significance spread all over the state. More than 60 tourist sites are known to exist here in Osun, with the Osun grove having acquired a UNESCO World Heritage Site status.”

Both Akinola and the Chairman of the State Tourism Board, Mr. Abimbola Daniyan, an engineer, as well as the Commissioner for Commerce, Co-operatives and Empowerment, Mr. Ismaila Jayeoba-Alagbada, stressed that the conference would strengthen investment efforts and create a platform for high level business networking and business to business matchmaking opportunities.

Akinola said, “We plan to take advantage of the large number of visitors during the annual Osun Osogbo Festival to make the trade mission an annual event.”