ABUJA INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL 2019

UJA INTERNATIONAL ARTS ABILITY FESTIVAL WITH THEME “THE FUTURE IS ACCESSIBLE”
December 3-4,2019 Venue:
TO MARK THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PERSONS
Exhibition Pavilion Area 10, Abuj
WITH DISABILITIES

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 CONTENT MAP
ABOUT THE PROJECT
PAGE 03
OBSERVATIONS
PAGE 04
LESSONS LEARNED
PAGE 05
NEXT STEPS
PAGE 06
RECOMMENDATION
PAGE 07
PHOTO GALLERY
PAGE 08
APPRECIATION
PAGE 09

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 Abuja International Arts Ability Festival was created by
The Potters Gallery Initiative in 2015 to showcase the creative
potentials of people with disabilities from across Nigeria and
Project. also to provide a platform to deepen advocacy and civic
engagement on the effective implementation of laws and
policies promoting access for persons with disabilities. The
festival is celebrated every year in December to mark the
international day for persons with disabilities. The festival
took place at the th
Exhibition Pavilion, Area 10 Abuja on the 3-4 December,
2019. The festival had six major performances with
exhibition of visual work of arts, and film screening
facilitated by Bella Anne Ndubuisi from the US Embassy,
and presented by Nduwhite Ahanonu from the International
Institute for Creative Development. The performances
include Deaf Drama, dance, and mime. Three musical
performances from two persons with physical disabilities
and one visually impaired person. The festival had in
attendance the representatives from the National Gallery of
Arts, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Federal Capital
Territory Department for Arts and Culture, Nigeria Television
Authority, Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President
on Disability Matters, US Embassy Abuja, Institut Francais
Du Nigeria, Christofell Blinden Mission, Sight Savers
International, and BBC Media Action.

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 Observati
Considering the number of applications and proposals
received, it is a strong indication that there are many
talents and creative minds waiting for expression
among people with disabilities. Majority of the Disabled

ons Artist performing have works of international standard

that can be presented at any festival. It is evident that
majority had talent but no platform to help them
showcase it, so for them the festival is an opportunity to
discover their talents. In the application process, we
had more people showing strong desire to perform and
showcase, but limited funds made it impossible. Turn
out in this year's festival was very low compared to the
previous ones. So many reasons could be responsible
for this; this is the first
rd
time our festival is celebrated exactly on the 3 of
December, which is the international day for persons
with disabilities and there a lot of activities going on in
Abuja the same day, including official government
celebration. The disability was signed by the President
this year, there are lots of engagement around the law
and the urgent need to set up an implementation

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 commission and the activities are happening at the same
time.

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 Lessons
Planning of special festival like this requires a lot of
funds; this is the only festival for persons with
disabilities in Nigeria and the entire West African Sub

Learned region. It is nearly impossible to plan this festival

without funds, lack of funds affected the planning of
the festival in many ways and it also affected
mobilization, marketing, and turnout in the festival.
There are many talents among people with disabilities
in Nigeria, but there is not platform to discover them,
we were overwhelmed with request for participation,
but we only needed few people because of the
resources. The festival is supported through a grant
from US Embassy with in-kind support from

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Christofell Blinden Mission,
and capacity building support from British
Council.

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 Next Steps
Potters Gallery Initiative shall conduct an evaluation by

sending out questionnaire early next month to participants

to check their expectation and how the festival impacted

them. All our partners will be updated on the progress of the

evaluation; this evaluation will help to guide the planning of

the next Abuja International Arts Ability Festival. Potters

Gallery Initiative will sustain this evaluation by setting up an

online interactive forum to sustain this engagement.

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 Recommenda It is recommended by members and stakeholders that the

tion
planning and preparation for Abuja International Arts Ability

Festival should start as early as March, this will give room for

effective consultation with partners and stakeholders and also

to allow for more time to plan around the logistics. It is

also recommended for a creative boot camp four months

before the festival. It is recommended that the festival should

be a five days event to accommodate more Disabled Artist,

and the dates should be fixed five days before the international

day for persons with disabilities for more visibility from

government and visitors.

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 PHOTO GALLE Y

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The Potters Gallery Team appreciates the loud effort of US Embassy Abuja,

Christofell Blinden Mission, and Bank of Industry for their funding support

which made huge difference in the lives of people with disabilities,

especially the artist.

Our appreciation to British Council Nigeria, Goethe Institut Nigeria, and the

Secretary African Disability Forum Ekaete Judith Umoh for their technical

support, we thank BBC Media Action for building good content around the

festival. We appreciate the presence of development partners, the Director

General National Gallery of Arts, Office of Senior Special Assistant to the

President on Disability, the director of Institut Francais Du Nigeria,

Christofell Blinden Mission UK, BBC Media Action, and Sight Savers

International. Special thanks to International Institute for creative

development for facilitating the film screening on the deaf struggle in the

United States. Appreciation also to participants who traveled from Lagos

and Plateau State for the festival, without them there is no story to report

and share.

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