Lagos releases 2018 calendar of art and culture

The Lagos State government has released a calendar of over 70 state-sponsored and endorsed art and culture programmes slated for the rest of this year in its bid to garner visibility for tourism-oriented art offerings.
The novel exercise, according to the commissioner for tourism, art and culture, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, is designed to frontload public and privately-driven arts, culture and entertainment events that will have positive impact on tourism and the image of Lagos as an art-friendly state.
According to Ayorinde, the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode started the year with his attendance at Ali Baba’s January 1 comedy concert at Eko Hotel. Other events held in January and February so far that were included in the calendar are Angel and Muse, an art exhibition by a Lagos-trained world-renowned artist, Eebi, a month-long indigenous cultural festival in Epe, Wazobia FM Carnival and the Lagos City Marathon, among others.
The idea of creating a calendar of events, is to make event planning, tour booking and business decisions easier for tour operators and the public.
The calendar is part of the innovative intervention to project the arts, entertainment and leisure benefits inherent in Lagos, which makes the state attractive to domestic tourists, business travellers and stop-over passers-by.
The commissioner said, “The state is forging ahead in expanding the consumption of its tourism products by improving access to tourism information and creating an events guide for the media and tour bloggers.”
Although not exhaustive, the calendar contains most of the well-known cultural festivals across the state, entertainment events, concerts, visual and performing arts as well as fashion and culinary events. The state is expected to leverage on its continuous infrastructural development, regeneration and creation of iconic monuments and attractions for entertainment, art and culture enthusiasts to boost economic activities and expand opportunities for job creation during the various events marked on the calendar.
“Governor Ambode believes that the quantum of cash transactions across the tourism and entertainment value-chain, as tracked in December 2017 when about N50 billion was spent on entertainment and leisure alone, is a testimony to the huge economic gain that exists in promoting tourism in the state. This and other economic factors make Lagos one of the most vibrant and culturally significant cities in Africa, with potential to make enormous impact in driving in-bound tourists from across the globe.”
Major events listed on the calendar include Gidi Fest, Lagos Water Regatta and Fanti Carnival around the Easter period, the International Jazz Day celebration on April 30, which will be dedicated to the South African jazz legend, Hugh Masekela, the Lagos Comedy Festival (incorporating Lagos Laughs on World Laughter Day) on May 6 and the Eko Art Expo in the last weekend of May.
June will be rich with the first-ever Lagos Golf Funfair and the Lagos Cinefest, which is designed to take cinema-going experience to all the five divisions of the state.