MTN has announced that it’s sponsoring six artistic productions in the fourth quarter of 2018 as part of its tradition of supporting Nigerian arts and culture through its MTN Foundation.
The Executive Secretary of the foundation, Nonny Ugboma, disclosed this at a press conference held on Thursday at the Terra Kulture in Victoria Islad, Lagos.
She said the art productions consist of five musicals and a visual arts festival which are due to be staged across the country from this October till December 2018.
These productions, which represent the very best of Nigerian theatre according to her, consist of Fela and the Kalakuta Queens (produced by Bolanle Austen Peters), Legends (produced Gbenga Yusuf and Ayo Ajayi); Our Son, the Minister (produced by Bikiya Graham-Douglas); Simply Poetry (by Dike Chukwumerije), Oba Esugbayi (produced by Joseph Edgar) and the Life in My City Art Festival taking place in Enugu.
She further added that their sponsorships are guided by three key objectives “to re-tell Nigerian and African stories to our people; to promote our values and finally to empower skilled professionals to showcase their talent before a wider audience.”
Speaking at the conference, three of the producers – Ayo Ajayi, Joseph Edgar and Kevin Ejiofor – commended MTN for the partnership.
“Our event is unique in that it is pan-Nigerian and targets artists under the age of 35 and has been going on for twelve years. You can imagine our relief that MTN noticed our blood, toil and sweat in trying to empower young Nigerians to attain the height of their creative expression,” Ejiofor, the producer of Life in my City arts festival said.
Similarly, Edgar, who produced Oba Esugbayi, said: “When we were working on the show, it was clear to us that for MTN to lend its support, it must be of great quality and have a wide impact on the larger society. MTN has been very supportive in this regard and we are looking forward to a successful show run.”
Ajayi, who was an ex-student of MTN Foundation and currently the co-producer of Legends the musical, which will be showing at MUSON Centre, Lagos thanked MTN for supporting Nigerian arts & culture.
Commenting on the initiative, the director of MTN Foundation, Mr Dennis Okoro said the foundation was aimed at empowering people and bringing them to limelight.
“We aim to empower people and to ensure that art and culture is given the feasibility in the entertainment industry; culture is us, it includes our identity, language and the rest,” he said.
It will be recalled that earlier in the year, MTN Foundation had also supported the public performance of world class theatre productions such as Saro and Wakaa the Musical, as well as the Eko Theatre Carnival.
Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, which was the first of the productions, took place on October 14 as part of the Felabration celebrations.
Other supported productions are slated to take place at various dates in October, November and December 2018.
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