And the dean danced
It was not a
dancing competition, but the dean broke into a break dance and combined
it with some back slides to thrill his wards. This happened at an
awards ceremony to celebrate and honour Nigerians who have contributed
to the development of the School of Art Design and Printing Technology
at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos.
Held at the Yusuf
Grillo Auditorium of YABATECH, the ceremony brought together students,
scholars, visual artists, alumni and other members of the public
together on January 28. The event also served as a New Year
get-together for students and lecturers.
The event began
with the introduction of awardees and special guests, a list that
included the chairman of the award, Rasheed Gbadamosi, who could not
make the event; Olu Amoda, Oliver Enwonwu and Abiodun Olaku.
There was a dance
drama performance by Innocent Alpha Hands, a group of young performers
who entertained the crowd with energetic dance steps and popular Yoruba
folk songs, before the dean of the department, Rukeme Noserime,
delivered a brief welcome speech.
The speech
In his speech,
Noserime gave a short account of the department’s humble beginnings
from 1947 when it offered certificate courses in Art and Design, before
it evolved to its present status.
“We deeply
appreciate the candid contributions of Professor Yusuf Cameron Adedayo
Grillo, who is the brain behind this mighty edifice fashioned after one
of the first Art schools in the world; Slades University, in London.
YABATECH has the biggest art complex on the West African coast,” he
noted.
He went on to recap
the department’s current developments and their academic
expectations.“Last year, we proposed hosting the first Triad Technical
Summit, consisting of visual artists, designers, scientists,
technologists, engineers and architects. The summit is called
GRILLO…NASIED (National Summit for Innovation Experimentation and
Discovery)”, he said. “Albeit due to the academic preparations
concerning the conversion of the college to university status, it had
to be shifted. We shall be hosting this summit in September 2011,” he
added.
New courses
Noserime also
pointed out that the Faculty will be adding Music Technology,
Cinematography and Theatre Arts to the list of courses offered.
According to the
dean, the faculty will be working closely with Tunde Kelani, who was on
the list of awardees, in the planned cinematography programme. He also
added that Music Technology will involve fabrication of musical
instruments, in addition to teaching students of this proposed
department how to play musical instruments and the rudiments of music.
The department has
been carrying out research to document the historic past and
ethnographic relics of different parts of the city, before modernity
erases the past. An exhibition of the findings is scheduled for this
month.
“The African man
must be cautious and sensitive to this current phenomenon, otherwise we
may be losing our most valued heritage; Culture. I sincerely pray that
God sees us through. You are welcome once again to this great
institution,” he concluded.
The Deputy Rector,
Academics, Abubakar Olaseni, replaced Gbadamosi at the occasion, as
well as representing the Rector of the college.Mr Olaseni praised the
institution and welcomed everyone at the venue. Comedian, Calibird,
rendered rib-cracking jokes that made fun of the three main Nigerian
ethnic groups, the Warri man’s supposed trickery and the uniqueness of
Nigerian names. His act was followed by students who came to show their
musical talents.
The awards
The stage was later
turned to a catwalk as students of the Industrial Department came up
with beautiful designs. After the display it was time to give away the
awards. Rasheed Gbadamosi was given the Custodian of Art and Culture
Excellentia award.Former broadcaster and now Member of the House of
Representatives, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, got the Woman of the Year
recognition for 2010. The tag team of Nneka and Isaac Moses won Grand
custodian of African culture and arts for their TV programme, Goge
Africa.
Filmmaker Tunde Kelani was in Abeokuta receiving another award while
YABATECH was honouring him in Lagos as Cinematographer of the Decade.
Olu Amoda was recognised as the Visual Artist of the Decade; while
Oliver Enwonwu and Dotun Alabi (Chair and Secretary General of the
Society of Nigerian Artists, Lagos) were acknowledged for their
outstanding roles in the arts. A total of 30 awards were given at the
event.
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