‘Fela Debates’ Kicks Off ‘FELABRATION 2023’ Oct 9, Focuses On ‘Creative Economy’

With the new government pledge to double the national economy to one trillion dollars by boosting all productive sectors, the creative and entertainment industry is one of the growth areas under focus. Two new ministries straddling arts, culture, entertainment, communications, technology, the digital economy, and innovation have been created to demonstrate seriousness of intent beyond rhetoric

THE 15th annual celebration of the enduring essence and legacy of the Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, kicks off on October 9 with the ‘Fela Debates’ on the theme ‘Leveraging on the Global Rise of our Creative Economy.’

The debate will hold from 10 am at its traditional venue, the NECA Building on Hakeem Bello Street, Ikeja Lagos, which is in the neighbourhood of The Afrikan Shrine, the famous performance art monument, which Fela’s children, led by Yeni and Femi Anikulapo-Kuti, founded in memory of their legendary father.

Otherwise known by its nomenclature ‘Who no Know go Know’ — a direct reference to one of Fela’s enduring classic compositions by same title — Fela Debates is usually an intense intellectual engagement on themes germane to the thoughts and beliefs of the man, Fela.  It has in past editions featured eminent speakers from home and abroad, including the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, the pan-Africanist ideologue from Kenya, PLO Lumumba, and Nigerian globally-renowned writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The 2023 edition, the 15th in the series will feature a corps of speakers, each of whom is accomplished in his/her chosen profession or vocation. They are the Storyteller and Content Creator, Femi Odugbemi, the writer and founder-director of the Ake Book and Art Festival, Lola Shoneyin, a music executive, Thembekile M. Niklas, and a digital technology expert with a background in entertainment, media, and music, Oye Akindele. The moderator is the creative economy entrepreneur and influencer, Obi Asika, Convener of The Omniverse.

A statement from the organisers issued by the convener of the Debates, Femi Odebunmi, giving context to the choice of the theme, reads:

“The global growth of our creative economy and our rich cultural assets are widely acknowledged as a developing area of commercial and economic diversification.

“Nollywood and the visual arts, creative writing and the craft of the narrative, contemporary fine art, and fashion. Of all these, of course, our biggest impact worldwide today is in music. The counter-culture genre of Afrobeat and its massive derivatives, Afrobeats and Afropop and other similar sub-cultural musical elements dominate and spearhead our cultural renaissance.

“With the new government pledge to double the national economy to one trillion dollars by boosting all productive sectors, the creative and entertainment industry is one of the growth areas under focus. Two new ministries straddling arts, culture, entertainment, communications, technology, the digital economy, and innovation have been created to demonstrate seriousness of intent beyond rhetoric.

“However, the success of this policy initiative depends on overcoming huge challenges caused by years of poor financing, broken value chains, a weak enabling environment and spiraling costs of production of creative products. Not to mention the weak institutional protection of creative assets.

“One area of great impact on the development of the creative space is the emergence of new technologies that have introduced a revolution in the creative industry. These emerging digital techs are opening new avenues to produce, distribute, and monetize content and the recent blockchain technology Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) help enforce copyright protections and enable artists to be rewarded for their work.

“To discuss and debate these issues and develop the narratives, The Fela Debates Symposium (now in its 15^th year) is pleased and excited to announce our panel of speakers uniquely chosen from the various creative sectors of the industry, namely, a filmmaker, a writer, a music executive and a digital technology expert with a background in entertainment, media and music. Our moderator is Obi Asika, Convener of The Omniverse.”