*Question*: Have you noticed the tendency for the black man or the African man to leave the worship of God and worship the Western European tradition and tendencies?
*Answer*: The white man came here and took what belongs to us. For instance, I have a written document of the instructions given from the king of Belgium to the Missionaries going to Congo and what he told the missionaries. He said to them, "they are rich, God blessed them with everything - in the land they have minerals go there and for you to be able to penetrate and for us to have those things they have - tell them and preach that aspect of the Bible that gives them heaven and make them to forget the Earth - blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, and then let them know that no rich man can enter the Kingdom of Heaven - It's like the camel passing through the eye of the needle, so let them know that they should forget their richness and have heaven - let them know that we are the better people to be rich.
*Question*: As an art custodian, in the Western world art is a means of revenue generation where you have arts centres, museum and galleries - even our treasures were stolen from us and put in the museum where we now pay to visit them. Special reference to the case of Imo State how do we convert the art and culture of the state into a revenue generation stream?
*Answer*: Thank you. Now the man is art and the study of mankind is the study of art and the study of art is to study the artist. Everybody has art and whether it is music, dance or drama, they are both for entertainment and we'll have the ones for business. So we will take specific areas. For instance, I am an artist. I am a painter, a sculpture and a visualist. All I do is to bring all the various forms of art together for it to be harnessed. Now these days many people are into production and many artist don't sell the original works of art, the only one that seems to be getting multiplication is textile where as you can see it's getting dominance in the market because people are talking about African print and designs- so in essence people are making productions which are gaining ground in the market. To make the Imo state art sellable and a good source of revenue generation for our system, we need to harness various talents and the existing talent we have, and bring them to a junction of where the world is headed and then a point of intersection of where things are happening such that they can bring to limelight what the people need to know and and what the people need to see. By so doing we will make arts and culture appreciable to everyone and what you appreciate is what you are able to pay.
*Question*: What about the Imo State carnival where are we taking it to from where it is now.
*Answer*: The Imo State carnival cannot die. We are going to bring back the carnival from a different concept. This concept is all about corporate social participation where you have organisations partake in seeing to the success of most of those things for example the carnival. I feel a law is coming up from the Imo State House of Assembly on corporate social responsibility. Once this law is achieved, it will go a long way in helping us to bring things together in achieving a whole lot of success as for instance the Imo State Carnival.
*Question*: Imo State is a tourism driven state, what effort have you made to talk to those in the tourism sector like you have said about corporate social responsibility - have you tried to interface with organisations to play a role for the success of an Imo December Carnival?
*Answer*: The roadmap is there. The letters of invitations are there for purposes of preparation, based on the fact that the concept is not to wait on the government to sponsor the carnival. We are on top gear to partner and invite multinational organisations to be part of the carnival whenever it's going to take place because the importance of a carnival can never be overemphasized.
For instance it is an economic boom to some businesses because during this time, people tend to buy a lot of things to look good, to fit in and to make themselves happy. During the Imo Carnival we are going to do localised designs of Carnival.
*Question*: Don't you think it will be nice to have an Imo state art gallery? I know you have your private art gallery so what are you doing towards creating an Imo art gallery?
Answer: Thank you. Once the government gives us a place, we will harness all the artist, where they are going to exhibit what they are doing for the public to see. When this is done we are going to have residences where artists will be working from and then young people will also be coming to see what they are doing. At this point interest will be developed as children can even be allowed to make free hand drawing and painting on canvas. By doing this, we can have weekends of participatory art where people can come around on weekend to be part of the art processes.
*Question*: We have tertiary institutions in Imo State, have you taken steps to go to their art department in order to get them on board as partners in your program.
*Answer*: I am the chairman Society of Nigerian Artist and they are all part of what we do. From a road map, we have plans of visiting all the art department in the universities from Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Imo State University and other Universities that carries out art as a discipline in the institutions. The plan is to organise an art exhibition for young people to carry out team work. Where we will have them do paintings on a whole lot of things for instance prosperity progress etc. This we shall do with the collaboration of most of these big companies such that at the end of the day these participants will be given gift items to motivate them into believing in arts and into doing more..
*Question*: In Imo State we have the Ministry of Tourism as an independent ministry, and we also have the Ministry of Arts and Culture also as an independent ministry. Is there a role, bearing in mind that Imo State is a Tourism and Hospitality destination and what have you done to interface with this Ministries to partner with them in order to achieve your aims and objectives?
*Answer*: Thank you. I have enjoyed the visits and meetings of the new commissioner for Tourism Hon. Uche Ohia who has visited my art gallery where we had three hours of tour and session. We need to understand that the tourism department cannot work in isolation of the Ministry of Arts and Culture. The synergy is there for us to work and achieve one objective because tourist will come and lodge in the hotel - that's hospitality and from there they will visit our tourist sites where you now have arts and culture playing a role. So the Ministries and my portfolio are all intertwined such that we have to work together to achieve great results. With time we are working at creating new tourist sites in Imo State so the state can bounce back to being the centre of hospitality and tourism in Nigeria.
*Question*: Do you have a database of tourist sites in the States?
Answer: The zoo is there and can be converted to a tourist art site. We have individuals who have made the country and the state proud. People like Dick Tiger, Dan Anyiam, Sam Mbakwe and a whole lot of them. We are trying to identify especially these individuals so that we can bring them to limelight and perpetual remembrance by the people. That is why I want to do the festival of portraits where we are going to get the portraits of these notables; by so doing even their homes can as well become tourist centres.
That is why I am insisting that we as a people need to go back to history for us to know more about our people from the known to the unknown. Back in the school, I did hand work but today people no longer do hand work and all the related courses. From the look of things, our culture and arts are gradually dwindling and going into extinction. However I am here with a plan and it is what I have called the cultural rebirth. In the program, all those things that our people are known for will be revived again and people will begin to appreciate them in a different dimension.
*Question*: Finally what is your view and the way forward towards reviving and revitalizing the art and culture industry in Imo State towards adding value and generating revenue for the system?
*Answer*: In developed countries art and all architectural designs have about 3 or 4% allocation. Over there, walkways must be designed with works of art. This is to tell that the greatest patronizers of art must be the government such that every strategic place and also the public domain in a society must have an element of art and artistic representation. Once we start doing this, people will start appreciating arts because it will not only be seen at the strategic places, but it will coincide with their daily activities.
*Question*: What is your message to the people of the state - are they to expect an Imo carnival just like you have in other neighbouring state?
*Answer*: Yes we are working hard to see that a great carnival is achieved this time. As you can see, the roads are taking shapes and this is a great pointer of having a free-flow carnival where the people can move around and visit without having to complain of bad roads.
At this point we can have a carnival route without obstructing people's movement. During the planning phase of the carnival all hands will be on deck to achieve success. The office of the Special Adviser to the governor on Public Enlightenment and other officers will be there to play a role towards telling the public about the carnival and also reaching out to other corporate bodies who will in turn come and partner to make it a huge success.
Publisher: Don Martyn L.O Nwosu
Ikeduru APC Media Hub
08032950897
Ikeduruapcmediahub@gmail.com
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