The UN Special Rapporteur, Alexandra Xanthaki addresses participants at UVA’s Freedom Vibes Academy Project Briefing Session in Lagos.
On Wednesday 24th January 2024, Unchained Vibes Africa hosted the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights to address the participants at the Freedom Vibes Academy Project Briefing Session. This session draws the curtain on a yearlong Academy program which began in 2023. The event was organized as a hybrid event with in-person participation by UVA team from the UVA Gallery in Lagos while the special guest addressed the participants virtually from London, United Kingdom. Other 20 attendees, comprising the current Academy participants and 5 alumni also joined virtually.
The event commenced at 12.00noon with a welcome address by the UVA Research and Advocacy Manager Sola Alamutu (a.k.a. The Green Queen) followed by opening remarks from UVA Executive Producer Ayodele Ganiu with a formal introduction of the special guest Ms Alexandra Xanthaki, a UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights and a Professor of Laws at Brunel University London, United Kingdom. Alexandra, also a leading expert on cultural rights has published on cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, cultural diversity, cultural heritage, balancing cultural rights with other rights and interests, and multicultural aspects of international human rights law.
The special guest addressed all participants on supports available to protect Artistic Freedom under the UNSR Mandate after the audiovisual introduction of the participants was projected by the production crew. There was a very robust and interesting interactive session between Alexandra Xanthaki and all participants who drew inspirations and got more enlightened from her wealth of knowledge and experience as an international human and cultural rights expert. Alexandra disclosed in her address that part of her mandate is to monitor the development and implementation of cultural rights. She said “Art can be radical and provocative, but it is important as an artist to do what needs to be done to be heard despite any attempt to be shut down. You just need to be true to yourself and be responsible in advancing your course.”
The Project Briefing session which was coordinated by the management team was preceded by a topical presentation of the “Project Management Basics for Cultural Advocacy”. These were respectively presented by UVA’s Advocacy Manager, Sola Alamutu and Executive Producer, Ayodele Ganiu to enlighten and guide participants on international best practices concerning project management models, compelling initiative proposals and creative ethics of project development for cultural advocacy. This also opened a window of opportunity for the participants to pitch a professional project proposal to UVA.
The event ended at 2.49pm with closing remarks and announcements by the UVA Programs Manager Samuel Osaze after the question-and-answer session was over.
The Project Briefing Session brings to a close the entire Freedom Vibes Academy program aimed at training and strengthening the advocacy capabilities of young socially conscious artists and cultural activists to promote freedom of expression and democracy in Nigeria. Freedom Vibes Academy builds on the achievements of the pilot Democracy Vibes Workshop organized in 2021.
