BEVERLY HILLS, May 16, (THEWILL) – There is no gainsaying the fact that the arts and culture are strategic media for accelerating tourism growth in Nigeria. To this end, it is agreed that museums and art gallery are good tools for the promotion of Nigeria’s art and cultural heritage.
Experts have, however, advised that to achieve this, the Federal Government should adopt certain steps to make it work.
Tourism expert, Julius Iyoghiojie, has advised that for Nigeria to have its full potentials in that area, the country should have more visual artists in the international space.
Iyoghioje said that when more artists occupy such space, more people would want to identify with their works.
Describing tourism as a major driver in the promotion of the products of the arts and culture, he listed some of the items to include indigenous and games, such as Ayo and Ludo.
Iyoghojie added that there were many tourist destinations around the world featuring the Nigeria’s heritage sites.
Calling on artists to collaborate with their counterparts in the international space as their colleagues in the music industry had done, he said that art appreciation in Nigeria had improved.
He said that unlike the past, the arts and culture had experienced a significant increase in the number of art collectors in the country, stressing that more Nigerians had become art collectors.
“One thing is certain. Your television set will become an old model, your car will become an old model and your furniture will become obsolete. It is only the art work in your house that will be priceless, which your grandchildren and children will want to inherit. So I believe that although the cars of 1900s no longer exist, we still have art works of 1994 well displayed or greatly admired till today. All I do is how to get people to love art. That is my major vision,” Iyoghiojie said.
Among his collection are man-made and handcrafted art works from popular artists, such as Bruce Onobrakpeya, Dele Jegede, Yomi Momnoh, Sam Ovraiti, and Zibo Moses. He also has over 800 framed works and 500 unframed pieces in his collection.
The Director, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art at the Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Jess Castellote, has recently observed that museums all over the world can gear towards helping people learn about art and learn through art.
“So in our way, this is like every other university anywhere in the world. We are privilege to have a very nice collections in our museum and most of the works here comes from Prince Shyllon and some have come from collections and donations, while others came from the artists and collectors. We are here for people to learn more and to offer the visitors a possibility in learning more on Nigerian’s art.”
He pointed out that the museum open for all and we allow people to come and see. We are here to serve the whole community and it is not only for the students.
On the benefit, he said, “There are not going to be receipt of good education without the museum. Art is good for everybody. But I think the museum can contribute positively and there are so many things one can learn from our world.
Explaining further, Castellote noted, “Art is good for the nation. You can learn through art and discover things through art. This applies to everybody, not only young people.We have some historic world collections in our museum such as uche Okeke, Osakwe, and the Ife Bronzes, Nok Tera kulta centuries among others.’
On the challenges, he said the people and corporal organisations had been unable to support the museum in addition to lack of funding from government.
Meanwhile, YSMA is home to 1,000 traditional and contemporary art works donated by Prince Yemisi Shyllon to the Pan Atlantic University, including a steadily growing number of items donated by artists and arts collectors.
The YSMA collection features painting, sculptures, mixes media, and time-based artworks from some established Nigerian artists, including Ben Enwonwu, Okeke Aina Onabolu, EI Anatsui and Bruce Onabrakpeya, among others, alongside works by younger artists, such as Uchay Chima, Peju Alatise, Ben Osaghae, Tony Nsofor, Lanre Tejuosho, Kelani Abass and many others.
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