WHAT HAS BUDGET GOT TO DO WITH CULTURE PRODUCTION

3RD STEVE RHODES CARNIVAL DISCUSSES BUDGET AND CULTURE PRODUCTION


The 73rd ART STAMPEDE holds on Sunday December 16, 2007 at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. Time is 1pm.
Otherwise called the 3rd Steve Rhodes Carnival, the theme of the Stampede is
What Has the Budget Got to Do with Culture Production? It is to examine, in this season of budgetary planning and review in Nigeria, the implication of Federal budgetary practices in the promotion of our Arts & Culture.

PREAMBLE:
Art and Culture received its own Ministry eight years ago, thus raising hope that this crucial aspect of our national development would begin to receive its due attention in the scheme of things. However, as it has turned out, Federal budgetary practices have not justified such optimism. It is said that the Ministry, with its four departments and ten parastatals, receives less than 1% of annual budgetary allocation out of which, in the last fiscal year, the parastatals received anything between 3% and 30% of the already paltry allocation. What is the implication of this for our Culture and Tourism industry in view of our vision of positioning as “the Heart Beat of Africa.”

There is a converse argument, which is that, this is the era of liberalization, or private participation in otherwise public sector space, and that public funds appropriation alone cannot sustain the production of our Arts. But then, some other watchers have argued further that, without the appropriate structure amenable to private sector participation, out Art and Culture industry, including the Billion naira Home Video industry, will miss out on the current investment boon in the private sector.

Speakers include Culture Bureaucrats from Federal and State agencies; Culture producers; Culture patrons as well as academics and art enthusiasts. They include Honourable Minister for Culture, Tourism and national Orientation, Chief Tokunbo Kayode (SAN); Mr. Joe Musa, Director-General,National Gallery Of Art; Otunba Yinka Lawal Solarin, Chairman, Nigerian Book Fair Trust; Folabi Kofo Abayomi, Special Adviser (Special Duties), Lagos State Governor; Mahmoud Ali-Balogun, frontline movie maker and activist among others.
 
Venue: National Theatre
Date: December 16, 2007
Time: 2pm.
Performing Groups: Adunni Nefertiti, Pelumi's Crew.
 
 
Regards
 
Toyin Akinosho

The Stampede will also feature dance and drama skits; as well as the CORA end-year party.