Arts
management in Nigeria is no doubt going through a positive transition and one
man is flying the flag with such a passion that is increasingly difficult to
ignore. I caught up with Doyin Owobamirin in London just a few hours after I
spoke with him in Washington D.C.It
was about Arts Management in Washington and in London, Doyin is on stage with
the likes Olu Jacobs, Segun Arinze and Bimbo Akintola in “The King Must Dance
Naked”. Doyin Owobamirin is a quiet achiever in many regards. At the rehearsals,
he causes laughter with such easy that you might mistake him for a clown. The
moment he shed the toga of the ‘actor’, his language and carriage transforms
almost magically. The brief exclusive awards ceremony to sent- forth the 2012
cohorts of the Devos Arts Management Institute at the Kennedy Centre in
Washington DC again brings this to the fore. In his introduction, Bret Egan,
Director of the Institute perhaps captured it better when he started by saying
“Doyin is a troubleshooter, this man’s entrepreneurial approach to arts
management is fascinating and I believe he’s going do some innovative things
for the arts in Nigeria”.
From
his time as resident artistic director of the Ogun State Performing Troupe to
the years as Arts Fellow at the Olabisi Onabanjo University where he taught
directing and Arts management and his work with Abuja Carnival as Communication
and ICT Co-ordinator, Doyin has left no one in doubt of his Arts Management
ingenuity. When he was selected to participate in the Fellowship Programme of
Devos Arts Management Institute at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C, he
became a member of an exclusive network of some of the finest arts managers
from over 30 countries.
Doyin
consults for a number of arts organisations in Nigeria and abroad. He’s worked
with the Abuja Metropolitan Music Society (AMEMUSO), consulted for MUSON
Centre, Lagos, and a number of Arts Councils in Nigeria. In 2011 alone, he
launched the Abuja Carnival Magazine, the Gateway Arts Society and packaged the
First ever ‘Abeokuta Street Party’ for the Ogun State government. While acting
in London, he is also quietly marketing his new pet project, the Nigeria Arts
Awards. Mrs. Akpata, immediate past Chief Executive Officer of MUSON Centre
sums it up when he noted that “Doyin is simply amazing when it comes to arts
management matters, every member of management at MUSON will readily attest to
that”. His Nigeria Arts Awards project scheduled to hold in 2013 in already
making quiet waves.