Gidi Creative Centre Commences Training For 200 Lagos Youths

Gidi Creative Centre (GCC), a capacity development initiative powered by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Lagos administration and The Temple Company officially kicked-off with an orientation ceremony on Tuesday at the Tayo Aderinokun Lecture Theatre, University of Lagos.

The creative sector initiative seeks to empower 200 youths 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.

With strategic support from University of Lagos and Henley Business School, the 11-weeks training module will run across multiple centres in Lagos including Ogidi Studios, University of Lagos, Dayton Lakes, Lekki among others.

The ceremony was well-attended by Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, officials of Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) as well as Henley Business School, University of Reading who joined virtually.

To buttress the significance of the training, Idris Olorunnimbe, Group Chief Executive Officer of The Temple Company and Director, Gidi Creative Centre, disclosed that over 1000 applications were received after a call-out was made six weeks ago at an unveiling ceremony by Pharm. Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture.

About 200 beneficiaries will benefit from the training while the masterclass sessions has been designed to accommodate an additional 300.

According to Idris Olorunnimbe who just returned from Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) under the Canadian High Commission cultural exchange programme, post-training mentorship has been taken into consideration with plans afoot to secure placements in partner organizations such as Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) and Mavin Records among others.

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

At the orientation ceremony, the young participants were charged to fully maximize the opportunity presented by Gidi Creative Centre to up-skill their talent and gain requisite capacity to excel as entrepreneurs.

Giving more insight, Winifred Okpapi, Head of Strategy, Arts & Talent Affairs disclosed that participants would be trained on leadership and entrepreneurship in the orientation week with faculty from Henley Business School expected to fly-in.

She disclosed further that students will coached on how to run and build a successful business as well as position the enterprise to secure funding.

Also lending her voice, Adebukola Agbaminoja, Executive Secretary, 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.”

In his remarks, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe commended the brains behind Gidi Creative Centre as a “timely intervention” at a period when ‘Japa’ (migration abroad) is the new fad among Nigerian youths.

He enthused, “With this partnership with Gidi Ccreative Centre, we are able to balance theory with practical for the beneficiaries some of whom include our students. This initiative will help them develop requisite soft skills. It will benefit not only students but also the youths.”

On his expectations during the training, one of the participants, Ogunfowora Olumide Emmanuel who is studying for Graphic Design Mastery commended the organizers and expressed his anticipations.

“I expect a lot from the training. As a creative platform, I also look forward to showcasing my skills and at the same time learn how to monetize my skills.”