Lagos begins training of 200 youths in filmmaking, music production

The Lagos state ministry of tourism, arts, and culture has commenced the training of about 200 young talents in the creative industry.

In August, the ministry, in collaboration with The Temple Company, launched Gidi Creative Centre, a platform to train and equip young talents in the creative industry.

The company kicked off the programme with an orientation ceremony on Tuesday at the Tayo Aderinokun Lecture Theatre, University of Lagos (UNILAG).

Idris Olorunnibe, the director of The Temple Company, said 200 youths out of 1000 applicants have been admitted into the academy.

He also disclosed that additional 300 youths will be admitted into the academy’s masterclass.

Olorunnibe added that youths with creative ideas will get access to funds after training to bring their ideas to life.

“After the training, there’s an opportunity for beneficiaries as individuals or group to pitch and access funding from Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF),” he said.

“They can access grants or single digit loans to fund production for sale to content buyers as a way earning income for themselves. There will be other opportunity for us to train more people because there’s a major deficit in content production.”

According to Winifred Okpapi, head of strategy, Arts & Talent Affairs, the participants will also be trained in leadership and entrepreneurship.

On her part, Adebukola Agbaminoja, the executive secretary of the Film and Video Censors Board, said: “The Lagos State government through the Lagos Creative Industry initiative has developed a platform through which creative talents from different local government in the state can participate in free-tuition training which is being facilitated by different film academies in the state. Presently, we are partnering with Gidi Creative Centre to train 200 beneficiaries in various capacities.

“Our previous beneficiaries have been doing well and this is what is propelling us to do more trainings. Our public-private partnership model with stakeholders for capacity-development has been working. We have previously partner with the likes of Ebonylife Creative Academy, Del-York Creative Academy and Africa Film Academy. The students have emerged from these trainings to screen and showcase within and outside Nigeria, these are verifiable indices and this is why we are encouraged to do more.”

The creative sector initiative seeks to empower the youth across 10 skill areas filmmaking, creative writing, animation 101, audio engineering and music production, graphics design, multimedia design, film and screen production design, project management for creative professionals, fashion design, and media studies.