Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the British Council, Mr. Vernon Ellis, paid a visit to Nigeria recently and disclosed that of all 110 countries where his global body operates Nigeria has remained the most “interesting” spot. He granted an interview to CHUKA NNABUIFE. Excerpt:

An exhibition featuring life replica of Igbo farm house set to open on Saturday, September 18 in Frontier Culture Museum, Staunton, Norfolk, New York, is already making sensetional impact. MARIA LONGLEY writes of the on-going exotic impact of the show piece which is also rallying together many Nigerians in United States of America:

HIP hop and R&B act Shai Guy has released a new album titled Omo Naija. Shai Guy really gives a full dose of his music in the work.

National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) began her quest for the revival of children theatre recently with the stage presentation of Colours of the Rainbow penultimate Sunday at Cinema Hall 2 of the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.

BONSUE Fuji exponent, Adewale Ayuba will be decorated by his kinsmen as the 34th Ereke Day as an ambassador of the festival which is scheduled to hold October 29 through November 6.

THOUGH the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) has grown locally and internationally it conspicuously lacks facilities and operational structures. Worse still the seemingly intractable internal conflicts that has rocked the sector in the last eight years tend to tear apart the various professional guilds and trade associations that have hitherto managed to hold the industry together.

IT was a curious but eventually very rewarding private partnership arrangement as two Nigerian bodies collaborated to make an impressive cultural statement for the country penultimate Sunday and Monday in London during the colourful Nothinghill Carnival.

ON Saturday, October 16 at the Lagos City Hall, Lagos this year’s edition of the Golden Tunes Concert and Award ceremony will hold with a touch historical documentation. Organisers say the event will be served purposely to highlight the progress of Nigeria’s urban music from the country’s political independence, half a century ago to date. Hence, the concert which will also ferry a specialised music industry award ceremony, a symposium and a music souvenir exhibition is holding under the title, Festival 50.

NEXT Wednesday, Surprise magazine, the new publication by the frontline society journalist, Femi Akintunde-Johnson (FAJ), will make its debut on the newsstands.

IN what appears to be a battle of two ‘monologues,’ Eve Ensler’s, The V Monologues and Wole Ogintokun’s The Tarzan Monologues opened yesterday at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos as part the Theatre@Terra drama series.

THE stage is set for a big cultural feast in this year’s Carnival Calabar which will also mark its first decade this seasons. Organisers of the yearly carnival promise that they are planning something bigger and better than they have had before.

INDIA’S film industry’s penetration into Africa continues strongly in South Africa with the latest platform of launching Bollywood and the entire culture of the Asian sub-continent being Africa’s most prestigious international applied arts festival, Design Indaba.

ON February 13, 1976 when Nigeria’s Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed was assasinated the nation was thrown not only into mourning but in worry of what to do to immediately to immortalise him. Especially, the last relics of his life like the specially designed long Mercedes car he was being chauffeur-driven in when he was killed.

International ArtExpo Lagos ended penultimate Saturday, and the last day offered members of the art community a chance to appraise art galleries’ and artists’ participation this year. The International ArtExpo Lagos, a project which the National Gallery of Art (NGA) holds yearly in collaboration with Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN) was mounted this year in the premises of National Museum Lagos. Thirty-four art galleries, most of which were based within Lagos participated.

AGAINST the notion that there is a drop in students’ enrollment into theatre arts programme in the universities in Nigeria Dean Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos, Prof. Duro Oni told Nigerian Compass that there is actually a rise in interest in the field of study. However, his worry is that not many in the number opt to major in design and technology for the theatre.

FOR the first time since the celebration of the yearly Osun Osogbo festival, the event was marked without the participation of the Ataoja of Osogbo, due to the death of Oba Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III some weeks before this year’s festivities was to hold. Indeed, his death threw the people in a quandary as to whether the event would even held as planned. But it held, successfully penultimate weekend.

Today, an exhibition of works by participants at this year's Young At Art workshop holds at the National Commision for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Onikan, Lagos. The exhbition, which is

During the recent Overcoming Maps 6 study tour of Gambia and Senegal of the Pan Africa Circle Artists, KENT ONAH, a senior lecturer in Auchi Polytechnic, Edo state made a critical appraisal of the mode of art orientation in Nigerian schools. Excerpt:

MUCH like a joke, stand-up comedian Atunnyota Alleluya Akpobome a.k.a Alibaba’s idea of better mode of corporate promotions will actually make the firms spend more than they offer to sell if his last Sunday event is his way of making his case for better product marketing. In fact, the way it is going, one day he will give out a car.

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence on Friday, October 1, individuals, groups, firms, institutions and government agencies are currently tumbling over one another to put up activities to fit into their framework of celebrating the country’s golden jubillee. The frenzy is now more noticeable in the arts and entertainment sector as almost everyboby and organisation keenly communicates his or her programme(s) in commemoration of the anniversary. But experts worry about the depth of the contents of the showcases.