The National Gallery of Art (NGA), the leading agency of government charged with managing the Visual Art in Nigeria, is keeping the tempo steady in its strident pursuit of achieving excellence in this constitutional role.
in Nigeria, Documenting Art Departments in Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in Nigeria,” was planned in collaboration with The Federal University of Lafia. In his opening address at the event, the Director-General DG, National Gallery of Art, Mr Ivara noted that the last time a similar symposium on Nigerian Art was held was held was ten years ago. It is a long time frame and a lot has happened.
Older Art Departments like Yaba College of Art, Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, for example, have evolved, while the newer art departments like the Federal University of Lafia and Alex Ekwueme Federal University and others have stories that are worth telling and documenting.
He expressed gratitude to Prof. Shehu Abdul Rahman, the Vice-Chancellor of the partnering institution, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State and its Department of Fine and Applied Arts, for their support and contributions to the success of the event as co-hosts, despite the last-minute withdrawal of their participation due to the ongoing nation-wide strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Far-reaching issues about art teaching and learning, and the philosophies behind art production, from the standpoint of art institutions, were discussed during plenaries.
Also x-rayed, is how these factors have helped shape the creative sector in Nigeria. The lead speaker of the symposium, Professor Frank Ugiomoh of the University of Port Harcourt, in his keynote address, stated that the symposium planners received over 61 abstracts for the conference.
According to him: “This speaks to the collective hunger for the improvement of the art sector by relevant stakeholders.” Ugiomoh noted that “Nigeria is not lacking in ideas because the universities and other tertiary institutions churn out astonishing creative ideas, which were often locked up within the walls of institutions.”
He averred that with its resources, the National Gallery of Art has come to the rescue by providing focused programmes which institutions of art lack the resources to achieve.
