Despite the unprecedented challenges of this year, especially the pandemic, the Lagos Fringe festival is holding amid more exciting programmes.
Now in its third edition, the annual theatre feast has a special focus on developing local artists for the digital space.
The focus, according to the organisers, is in the light of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, as well, some of the festival programmes are dedicated to engaging with experienced professionals who are committed to partnering with the Lagos Fringe this year.
Arguably one of the largest outdoor festivals in West Africa, the 2020 edition, which is on the theme “Recreating the Future” is scheduled to hold from November 17-22, 2020, and also offers an array of training opportunities.
Moreover, the Lagos Fringe Festival offers a hybrid programme of online/virtual and live interactions, including breathtaking performances, experimental work, exhibitions among other theatrical activities, with social distancing measures in place.
Unveiling some of the exciting programmes of the festival, Kenneth Uphopho, festival director, Lagos Fringe, said, “We will kick off the week with Jude Idada and Africa Ukoh, two playwrights, who will teach creative writing in response to the ‘new normal’ as artists.
“By Thursday, which is the day dedicated as the Women’s Day at the Fringe, Nadine Patel, a creative consultant and advisory board member of the Lagos Fringe, will be joined by Nike Jonah; executive director of the Pan African Creative Exchange based in South Africa, and Yolanda Mercy; a United Kingdom-based artist. They will be sharing their wealth of expertise with the audience on ways you can develop your work for the international scene”.
Explaining further on the activities, Brenda Fashugba, festival producer, Lagos Fringe, said that following the recent pandemic, Gwendolyn Tieze; a lecturer and fundraising expert, would be sharing knowledge alongside Lami Phillips, a Nigerian music export, on ‘Resilience and Recreating the Future’.
Tietze is an accredited coach working with artists and creatives on their personal and professional development. She also runs training on coaching and communication skills and is an arts fundraiser.
Originating from Vienna, Austria, Tietze is based in London, UK. She is a member of the Association for Coaching and a trainee counselor. She has been involved in the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE), a showcase platform for the interdisciplinary arts in Africa, since its pilot in 2017.
Previously Tietze was a lecturer in Artist Development at the Royal Academy of Music and held development director roles at Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Arvon; a creative writing charity, and NMC Recordings, a contemporary classical record label.
Also, Erwin Maas, a New York-based theatre maker, educator, and international arts advocate from the Netherlands, and Wana Udobang; a multi-cultural creative writer and curator will be sharing their wealth of experiences on Artistic Creations for the digital space.
Maas has worked extensively in Australia, Europe, South Africa, South Korea, and the USA. In New York, he directs numerous productions Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, as well as, Site Specific. Maas is the co-founding director of the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE), Artistic Associate & Director of the Fellowship Program for the International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY), and the Programming Director for the Off-Broadway Origin Theatre Company.
Udobang graduated with a first-class degree in journalism from the University for the Creative Arts. After graduation, she worked for the BBC World Service as a freelance features producer. She also worked as a researcher at Wise Buddah Productions, Above the Title Productions, and Somethin’ Else.
On return to Nigeria, she worked at 92.3 Inspiration FM in Lagos, for six years as a radio presenter and producer.
Her fiction and poetry have been published in Brittle Paper and other places online and in print. She is an alumnus of the Farafina Creative Writers Workshop held annually by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As a performance poet, she has performed around Nigeria. Her first spoken-word album, released in 2013, was titled Dirty Laundry. In 2017, she released a second album, titled In Memory of Forgetting. The album has been described as “incredibly brave”, a “feminist dog whistle” that revolves “almost entirely around the resilience women, their triumphs and struggles, their trauma and epiphanies. Udobang describes it as “a collection of memories navigating experiences that range from places of brokenness and questioning to self-renewal.”
In 2020, Wana was selected to participate in the 54th International Writing Program Fall Residency at the University of Iowa, courtesy of the United States Department of State. To date, 35 Nigerian literary figures have participated in the IWP Fall Residency. Notable among them are Elechi Amadi (1973), Cyprian Ekwensi (1974), Ola Rotimi (1980), Femi Osofisan (1986), Niyi Osundare (1988), Festus Iyayi (1990), Lola Shoneyin (1999), Obari Gomba (2016), Tade Ipadeola (2019).
Nadine Patel, one of the speakers for Women’s Day at the Fringe, has worked in the UK and international arts sectors for over 25 years supporting artists and arts organisations to develop and strengthen their opportunities and growth. As a freelance creative consultant, she draws upon her wide-ranging knowledge of contemporary art practices and networks to provide specialist advice, as well as, participating directly in project design, implementation, management, and evaluation. She was part of the team that developed the Lagos Theatre Festival, and is currently a Lagos Fringe & Abuja Fringe Board member, and has worked extensively across Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
Yolanda Mercy is a London based writer and performer for stage, screen, and audio who works nationally and internationally. Over the past two years, she has worked on projects in eight countries and across three continents. She was named Artist to Watch by the British Council, part of the BBC Writers Room and her writing has featured in Huffington Post. Yolanda is a published author with Oberon Books for her award-winning play Quarter Life Crisis.
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