adefuye (r) and babawale
Spurred by the need to further explore the cultural affinity between Africans at home and in the Diaspora, the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) has entered into an agreement with the Nigerian Embassy in the United States to cooperate on cultural and educational matters.
The United States in particular, and the Americas in general are home to the largest community of Africans in the Diaspora.
The agreement was signed when the centre hosted the Nigerian ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye, who was on courtesy visit to the Broad Street, Lagos offices of the centre, penultimate Friday, January 21.
The agreement is also coming on the heels of a recent poll by a United States fbased-firm which confirmed that African-Americans were influenced by heritage or roots in their choices of destinations for travel outside their residences.
This finding also confirmed results by the Ghana, Cameroun, Senegal and The Gambia tourism agencies of an increased traffic of African Americans to their countries to retrace their roots, known technically as heritage tourism.
Against the backdrop of the fact that Nigeria is yet to fully exploit this veritable source of revenue by positioning itself to tap into the industry, as Badagry is fast losing the attention of government, the recent agreement signed with the Nigerian mission comes as cheery news to the Nigerian business community.
The MoU, covering broad areas of cross-border co-operation and inter-institutional working relationship hopes to explore the instruments of arts and culture for cultural diplomacy in the United States and the Americas to the benefit of Nigeria, Africa and the entire Black world.
Recognizing the importance of arts and culture, the ambassador, in a statement, reiterated the determination of the Nigerian Mission in the United States to partner with CBAAC to further its activities and showcase Nigeria’s art and culture potentials to the admiration of the African Diaspora and the rest of the world through the Nigerian Embassy in the United States.
To realize the objectives of the MoU, therefore, CBAAC and the Nigerian Mission in Washington will co-organize exhibitions, concerts, roundtable and conferences on issues of common concern to Black and African communities around the globe in various locations across the United States and the Americas.
Significantly, the agreement to cooperate on identified joint projects and activities is expected to bring benefits to the foreign policy objectives of Nigeria, in addition to contributing to institutional strengthening with a multiplier effect , that is, taking into account the experiences in the significant benefits of culture in diplomatic relations and the promotion of interest in Black and African culture in the United States and the Americas.
Of particular interest to the culture sector practitioners, the agreement with the Nigerian Mission will facilitate; Colloquia on the role of culture and Nollywood in the new Nigerian diplomacy as the two institutions shall seek collaboration with non-governmental organizations such as the Pan African Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), Lagos; African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute (ADACI), Washington; Constituency for Africa based in Washington, and World African Diaspora Union (WADU) among others.
Also, exhibitions in the USA to be jointly sponsored by CBAAC and the Nigerian Embassy in Washington is on the card. The exhibition may be held from time to time and in partnership with an African American Museum as well as National Alliance of Artists of Historically Black Colleges, Institutes and Universities (NAAHBCIU). This will involve FESTAC ’77 artefacts, Nigerian, African American as well as African exhibits;
Concerts where African Musicians from the East, West and North would be invited to perform in the USA. This could be in Washington, Maryland, New York or in Atlanta Georgia; and also on exchange of information with the two institutions expected to facilitate access to information on Nigerian culture.
The agreement according to the terms establishing it is expected to be concluded for a five-year period and shall be extended by tacit renewal for successive five-year periods, except where formally cancelled by any of the parties.
Of particular note, the centre, which is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Tourism , Culture and National Orientation, has recorded similar milestone and far reaching agreements with governments and corporate and cultural institutions on cultural and educational cooperation in the past.
The agreement with the Nigerian Mission in the United States comes barely a year after the centre had wrapped up another deal with the government of Brazil on cultural and educational cooperation it had initiated in 2008.
It would be recalled that results of a poll released last month informed that cultural heritage played a key role when it comes to destination selection for African-American travellers, with more than one-third “very likely” to take a trip where stories and sites related to a heritage site history or roots.
The African American Traveler study, conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Mandala Research, also listed three primary segments within the African-American travel market: Curious and engaged; nearly a third of respondents (32 per cent) indicated the availability of African-American history sites and culture is a key factor in trip selection; Family reunion travellers—29 per cent attended a social or family event during their most recent trip; Business travellers—27 per cent had taken one or more business trips in the last 12 months.
Half of the travellers surveyed would be more inclined to visit attractions that offer more exhibits about black history and culture, and that percentage increases to 74 per cent among the “curious and engaged” subset.
These travellers place a high priority on offering educational experiences for children when travelling, with 46 per cent indicating it is very important for leisure trips to include activities that teach their children about African-American history and culture.
Entertainment magazines are effective mediums for reaching this market, with more than 40 per cent of travellers acknowledging they read Essence. Facebook is another popular outlet for African-Americans, with more than two-thirds indicating they read and post to the social website.
The online study conducted in December queried 1,018 African-American leisure travellers who took at least one trip within the United States in the past 12 months that was at least 50 miles away from home, or where the traveller spent at least one overnight and had shared or sole responsibility for travel planning.
The study was sponsored by the U.S. Cultural and Heritage Tourism Marketing Council and Shop America, in partnership with Louisiana Travel, Visit Baltimore, The Museum Store, Hester Group, the Center for Socio-economic Research and Education at Texas A&M, and the Henry Ford Foundation.
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