KUTA: THE STORY SO FAR
It’s the end of the year already and we’re quite excited about the many things KUTA Nigeria has accomplished. Though we couldn’t achieve all we had set out, we’re grateful to our various fans, art enthusiasts and supporters who were a part of the initiatives of our organisation. Without you all, KUTA Nigeria would never be what it is today, it would never have achieved even less than a quarter of what we have today. As the year is quickly coming to a full circle, we thought it would be a bright idea to retell the things we have done this year. The essence of this recount is to remind us of how much everyone (yourselves most inclusive) have put into making the KUTA dream a reality; to remind us of how far we have come, how much we have done, how well and how much more we can do. As we have taken it as our key role to make art that speak and to campaign for the support for creative endeavours within and beyond our beloved Abeokuta, we hope to keep the furnace of love for art burning inside of you and that we all, together, never cease to strive towards making art that speaks not merely for a season, but for generations to come. We believe that excellence is one long journey and we have started that journey over 24 months ago, and it has no doubt been a rough one, we’re awfully grateful that you have chosen to remain faithful to our course.
While summarizing the knock out events we have organized and others we’ve supported, we’ll be revisiting our goals for the coming year. If you don’t know them already then you’ll be too excited to know that 2019 is our Performance Year. Alright, let’s get down to it all.
The Story So Far…
Full House Meeting
The in-house meeting was our first get-together. It was there we revisited the things we did in the previous year, acquainting visiting art enthusiasts, prospects and members of the community with the things we accomplished in the previous year. There, we dissected the KUTA objective and introduced everyone to the KUTA rangers. It was an amazing time together as we discussed our goals for the year, leaving room for visitors to share ideas on how to make things work. It was quite intriguing having to watch people interact. There was free wifi connection, refreshment and a bit of dance competition.
Art Connect 2018
Art Connect originally started in 2017 as a gathering for aspiring and contemporary artists and creatives to share ideas and acquire mentorship for the creative industry. It was targeted at motivating them to embrace more creative responsibilities and exposure to opportunities. This year, the theme was ‘Talent and Business’ and the workshop had three categories:
Arts and Management/Performance Art
Film/Photography and Writing
Fine Art
Being keen on art marketing, the speakers were cautiously selected for critical discuss, analysis and for the introduction of opportunities to participants. It was held at NESTbyKUTA, our space for creative work and networking.Item7
ITEM 7 was another initiative of ours in furtherance of the SupportCreativity campaign. Besides being an avenue for creatives to eat, have fun and interact, ITEM 7 was birth in honour of the World Food Day which is celebrated globally and adopted to drive the conversation around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal the second of which is zero hunger. The ITEM 7 event was an open call to friends and families to come in as chefs/caterers or guests who would love to eat and connect with great minds. We decided that it was necessary to foster the advancement of creativity, collaboration and innovation and with ITEM 7, and decided that creativity goes beyond paintings and lines.
Freedom Park Painting & The Ogun Youth Summit
In anticipation of the Ogun Youth Summit, KUTA Nigeria supported the organizers by partnering with Rock Space and other volunteers for a public engagement at the Freedom Park, Panseke. There, together, we made a public statement alongside artists and creatives who are members of the KUTA Community, making a painting to create awareness about the coming Ogun Youth Summit.
The Summit provided a ground for us to state our objective as an art and creativity-minded organization in amongst leaders, achievers, innovators and prospects.
THIS IS KUTA Art Exhibition (Nov 24, 2018)
The THIS IS KUTA Exhibition was a platform to showcase art works that would transfer the desires, emotions and hopes of the striving creative youth in our community. The exhibition featured a variety of art works ranging from paintings to sculptures, mixed media, textiles and creative writings. The exhibition opened Friday the 24th November and spanned 3 weeks. The exhibition took place at NESTbyKUTA and was graced by a number of personalities to whom we’re forever indebted to for their presence.
Work Review
As it is our culture to equip creatives with the knowledge and skill sets that will oversee their growth in their creative endeavour, KUTA Nigeria had a work review. The review was manned by Kene Nwatu, a Nigerian photographer and filmmaker with qualifications from professional institutions abroad. The review was an avenue for artists and creatives to have their works criticized. They were granted audience so as to explain the inspiration for their work and shed more light on areas that the moderator considered grey. It wasn’t so much of a pleasant experience but everyone present confessed that it had brought a shift in their perception of their work, their process and its overall message.
Ogun Youth Awards
KUTA Nigeria was also a proud sponsor of the Ogun Youth Awards, an initiative put up by Aktive Network to acknowledge and honour young achievers within and beyond Ogun State. The essence of the Awards was to campaign for youth involvement in matters of leadership, reward the spirit of excellence and bring to the knowledge of the public youths who deserve accolades. Fifteen of the nominees were awarded from the categories, all of whom will be celebrated at the Gala Awards Night.
The Journey Ahead…
KUTA Nigeria has the following objectives as her priority in the year to come:
. Preparation for a Performance Year: we look forward to further driving the course of the #SupportCreativity campaign to another level as we focus on performing arts, particularly the production of shortfilms, stories, musicals and dance.
. Pursuit of SDGs: KUTA Nigeria will advocate for sustainable development goals that positively impact the environment, agriculture, peaceful co-existence and youth development.
. Solo Exhibitions: It is our goal in the year 2019 to have solo exhibitions where artists and creatives get to showcase their works at subsequent times. It’ll be an avenue for them take accolades for their ingenius endeavours and to perhaps, sell their services to prospects.
. Trainings and Workshops: As it is our culture to strive towards excellence, we will have workshops and training programmes within and beyond our facilities. These workshops will grant participants an avenue sharpen their creative edge, technical skills and all together, improve their chances of being selected in highly competitive circumstances.
Farewell…
Once again we express gratitude to all who were a part of our meetings, our initiatives. To sponsors, artists, members and all who have enjoyed our programmes, we say thank you and hope that you have a blast of a New Year. Yes, we pray the new year meets you in health and merriment. And while going about the celebrations remember to stay healthy and to always support creativity.
Loves.
