Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has assured Creative Arts Practitioners in the state of his government’s unrelenting commitment to the growth of the sector, describing it as one of the major drivers of tourism development in Lagos.
The governor gave this assurance at the 2022 Greater Lagos Art Exhibition, themed: “Art in and for Transformations,” held at the Harbour Point Event Centre, Victoria Island, saying that his administration had embraced every opportunity to support and encourage young and upcoming talented individuals to grow and gain the exposure they would need to succeed.
According to Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, Creative art occupies a special place in the E- Pillar of his administration’s THEMES agenda, which stands for Entertainment and Tourism.
“Over three years of the implementation of the THEMES development agenda, we have left no one in doubt about our desire to fully harness the largely untapped potentials entertainment sector, especially the creative arts component,” he said.
Speaking further, Governor Sanwo-Olu affirmed that the exhibition was quite instructive, saying that there was a need to utilize different words and media to effectively communicate messages and ideas, especially those that were meant to change the orientation of the public, societal ills and its effects on the general well-being of the society.
The governor said he was of the conviction that the theme of the exhibition speaks to the power of artwork as potent tools to drive and influence social transformation through the message they communicated.
Wife of the Governor, Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, in her remarks, said the event presented opportunities to appreciate the enormous contribution of artists to society and to remind them of the need to have their creativity to correct some ills within society.
She noted that across the Globe, Art had proven to be a powerful tool which helps people communicate with the outer world and better understand their inner selves.
The Lagos First Lady stated further that as opinion moulders and great influencers of thought, they should be deeply involved and commit themselves to support the present administration in stamping out the menace of gender-based violence in society using their artworks as a form of campaign against domestic and gender-based violence and other societal vices.
The Commissioner for Tourism, Art & Culture, Pharm. (Mrs.) Uzamat Akinbile- Yussuf, in her welcome address, said the exhibition was part of the state government’s intervention to give visibility to artists and their artworks in order to further deepen the creative industry, adding that Art in its various forms, is a good business that deserved every attention and investment that is channelled towards it.
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