Lagos State Government Partners with Del-York Creative Academy to Train 1000 Creatives

Del-York Creative Academy (DCA) announces the launch of its flagship project: Creative Lagos in partnership with the Government of Lagos State through the office of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.. The ground-breaking initiative will train and empower 1,000 Lagos State residents in order to position Lagos State as the primary productivity hub for the creative industry in Africa.

During an interview at the 2019 Style by Zenith Bank Lifestyle Fair 2.0, recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; on the capacity building needs of the industry said,

“[The Lagos State Government] will be partnering with [Del York Creative Academy] and we will be making budgetary provisions to support such initiatives.”

The initiative, ‘Creative Lagos’ is championed by the Office of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, under the stewardship of the Commissioner, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf; she gladly announced that the flagship program was set to kick off in the first quarter of 2021 and commented;

“We believe a fourth industrial revolution is underway – one driven by the transformative power of the creative industries.” “This initiative will be one of our flagship projects under the Lagos Creative Industry Initiative (LACI)” she said

The program spans across 57 LGAs and LCDAs in creative and vocational sectors and features six courses across the spectrum of filmmaking, media, arts, technology, and digital marketing. The program, which is a hybrid of on-line and offline project courses aims to provide residents with 21st century skills necessary to further innovate and evolve local creative industries across multiple layers of many rapidly transforming landscapes.

The President and Founder of Del-York Creative Academy, Dr. Linus Idahosa, commended the state government’s commitment to the joint collaboration. He also lauded the unwavering commitment of Governor Sanwo-Olu to help citizens realize their full potential in charting a new and different path for the Nigerian creative industry and collective African narrative. He further stated that ‘Creative Lagos’ project will synergize talent, technology and career technical education to ensure that all participants remain at the cutting edge of innovation not only for the short-term, but for years to come.

Commenting on the unprecedented challenges and opportunities that the creative industry faces in our present day, Dr. Idahosa said,

“To compete in the real world, the best of our raw talents would need to be pruned in the fire by learning how to commercialize their crafts. Our talents would be transformed from show-stoppers to game-changers. Though we appreciate the theories of creativity, our Academy is not for theorists. It is for the pragmatic and for those who are ready to turn their creative minds into tools for real change.”

Del-York Creative Academy (DCA) in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, has crafted the ‘Creative Lagos’ project with careful planning to provide a thriving community for artists and visionaries that will shape the future of the Nigerian Creative Industry – a space where the most excellent and driven participants can break down limitations and build a bold and beautiful new Lagos. The Creative Lagos portal will launch in early 2021.