Ayodele Olalere
Lagos State government in partnership with Creative Youth Community Development Initiative – Solution 17 Action, and New York University, Abu Dhabi, is set to create awareness on the danger of climate change, especially Lagos being a coastal state, with the launch of the Art for Climate Project.
According to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Gaji Omobolaji, while announcing the launch of the project, the partnership will offer artists from Lagos the opportunity to collaborate with tech Innovators, experts in relevant fields and students from New York University, Abu Dhabi and the Universities Climate Network, UAE, to co-create innovative solutions to problems around climate change using art.
The project which has been tagged.COP28 Conference will begin in November this year with various preceding activities which includes live marathon painting events, dialogue series, and exhibitions.
It is our collective hope that this initiative will foster conversations about the role of art, culture, and citizenship development in addressing global challenges and shaping policies.
“The Art for Climate Change project will be building on a previous partnership of the Lagos State Government with The Vision of the Child (VoTC), through which the renowned Nobel Laureate, Prof, Wole Soyinka, mentored thousands of young artists, and poets between the ages 8 and 12 from 2012 to 2019. Notably four of the award-winning VoTC artists will depict the tech-driven climate action solutions on 17 canvases in Lagos and NYU, Abu Dhabi to promote COP28,” Gaji said.
He added that the conference, which will be held at the Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023, ‘ is expected to bring together a diverse range of participants, including government officials, industry leaders, academics, experts, and youth, to assess the world’s collective progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.’
The Chief Executive Officer and Project Director, Solution17, Foluke Michael, said some of the activities precluding the event will include private exhibition in Lagos on Sep 10, dialogue series in Nigeria in partnership with United Nations at /Lagos State University in October 2023 Lagos, and post COP28 exhibition in December and January 2024 at J.K Randle, Onikan, Lagos.
