In 2019, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) Cluster Nigeria, comprising Bulgaria, Spain, Germany and Czech Republic in the quest for a project they’d best collaborate on and support, came upon the idea of Residency In Museum (RESIM).
The choice for RESIM was easy, as each country embassy have had experience of Nigeria museums that are in need of support; hence a project targeted at strengthening the capacities of Nigerian museums through close cooperation with European and Nigerian museum professionals.
The project kickstarted in 2021 with a virtual workshop with Nigerian museum professionals – from the Center of Memories, Enugu; the Yemisi Shyllon Museum, Lagos; National War Museum, Umuahia; and The National History Museum of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, and four European museums – Museum Buneschka, Brno Czech Republic, the Museum Universidad de Narara, Pamplona, Spain, the National Marine Museum in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, and the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, Bulgaria, respectively.
Post the virtual workshop, the Nigerian museum professionals, were provided an all-expenses paid residency programme at one of the museums relevant to their practice and service, sometime this year.
Armed by an increased network of museum professionals, specialists and insightful and visual experiences, the Nigerian museums were awarded a N400,000 grant each to carry out four major projects by February 2023.
The projects include: Center of Memories Nchikota Akuko; Object-based Learning in Nigerian Classrooms by Yemisi Shyllon Museum, digitization of the Natural History Museum, Obafemi Awolowo University, and the Children’s Military Interactive Gallery of the National War Museum, Umuahia, Abia State.
With Nchikota Akuko, which stands for collation/collection of stories in Igbo language, Center of Memories, which is dedicated to the collation, documentation and presentation of Igbo’s history, culture and stories – aims to collate, preserve and share iconic Igbo stories with university students as a means of creating cultural awareness and enhancing their knowledge of their history and culture.
To heighten awareness beyond students of Igbo extract, the center chose to work with University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike.
“We are working with universities with a dynamic of ethnicities, hence it has to be a federal university. We want to inspire students of other cultures to show interest in their own history and culture.”
The Object-based Learning project of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum, is targeted at encouraging use of arts and other objects by teachers in classrooms as a way to enhance learning experience via the visual thinking which ultimately leads to advanced critical thinking.
“The museum will use its collections to teach teachers object-based learning (OBL) and how to use it in their various classrooms. One of our activity sheets is ‘manilla’ (the strong fibre of a plant used for rope, matting, paper etc.). There are a lot of things to discuss on ‘manila’ around Nigeria and west Africa economy. For instance: How did manila come to west Africa? How did it function in various societies in Africa, and what has it to do with the various social classes of people at that time? what’s the role of manila in the fostering of colonialism? The whole point of OBL is to teach visual thinking. With that you can use your eyes first in viewing an artwork or an object – what you see first, then helps you raise questions that advance critical thinking,” said RESIM participant, and project manager, Ebubechi Nwokoma.
Also, aimed at fostering creativity and learning between children and this time their caregivers, is the National War Museum, Umuahia’s Children’s Military Interactive Gallery exhibition. The experiential exhibition which will enable the children visitors (aged 1 to 17 years) and their adult caregivers to touch the pieces that will be on display, aims at educating the children about Biafran Civil War (of which the pieces at the museum centers around), its impact in the lives of children at the time, and why war should be avoided, and peace embraced in whatever they do.
While the children and caregivers will have their separate spaces within the exhibition, it will offer a space where caregiver can ‘come down to the level of the children’—and see they see. Still at the development stage as at December, Museum staff and project coordinator, Chika Ezeocha said the exhibition will be temporarily exhibited by February owing to infrastructural repairs.
“We made a little space inside the gallery to make it a makeshift gallery for now until we can move it to the right space in the museum that we want it to be exhibited,” said Ezeocha.
At the Museum of Natural History, Obafemi Awolowo University, RESIM participant, Professor Adisa Ogunfolakun is hard at work digitizing the museum’s collection. For him, the COVID era taught the entire world a lesson – how global a village it is – and how one can experience the world – in the comfort of their bedrooms.
“The world is moving digital, so, we are digitizing our collections to preserve them and with that ensure that visitors can tour our museum without leaving their bedrooms.
“It is not an easy project. There are a lot of challenges such as equipment to be used in the digitizing process which we don’t have, which is part of what the funding from EUNIC Nigeria will help us procure. But we are starting with what we have, the personnel. Then, when they see what we are doing we might gain more support to continue.”
Ogunfolakun’s attitude is one that EUNIC Nigeria President, Eva Barta had emphasized every point in time: that the aim of EUNIC RESIM is neither about Nigerian museums learning or copying what is done by European museums, nor about receiving grant support. Rather it is about exchange, networking, creativity and cooperation, be it between Nigerian museums and their European counterparts, or amongst Nigerian museums themselves, which they found had been working in silos.
“It is not that they have to learn from the EU museums rather it is about exchanging views or some methodologies that can be useful, and then try to implement them here; always taking into account, a key thing, which is: “What do you have? And what can you do with what you have instead of looking at what you don’t have?
“Our mission here is not to give money, though we support with capacity building. We are here to network them. Because, yes, you may have a grant today but when it is over, what next? Creativity is at the base of it all. It is important that they are creative. Once you are creative, you can do a lot of things independent of funds,” said Barta.
Delighted at the result of the project, Bulgarian Ambassador to Nigeria, Yanko Yordanov said Bulgaria has been involved in the preservation of Nigeria’s Natural History since the 70s and 80s.
“One of our prominent professors used to be the director of the Jos Natural History Zoo. It was he who hinted it might be a good idea this time for Bulgaria to return back (with this project),” said the ambassador who had supported the updating of the lion’s section of the National Children’s Park and Zoo, Abuja.
“We have done a lot this year, and it should be considered a preparation for a lot more next year,” said Yordanov.
“We worked on the very challenging area of African Museology. One of the young Nigerian professionals from Enugu, visited the Czech Republic and participated in a very intensive residency programme. I am happy to learn that RESIM has resulted in a mutual cooperation with the European and African institutions and a solid base of network important for further work in this area was created in the realization of this programme,” said ambassador of Czech Republic to Nigeria, Mr Zdenek Krejci.
“It is good to see that in times when cooperation and collaboration on many issues, for various reasons seems not to be easy, talk about economic or investment relations, cooperation and collaboration in the culture sphere is booming. That is encouraging, because it shows that as humanity, we are coming together and that there are endless opportunities in this field,” said German Ambassador to Nigeria representative.
Established in 2006, EUNIC comprises all 27 EU member states, that brings to life European cultural diplomacy and collaboration in more than 100 countries and 136 clusters globally. EUNIC Cluster Nigeria currently chaired by the Embassy of Spain, had its first cultural project in 2022 in collaboration with Latin-American embassies in Nigeria – targeted at the exploration of the Yoruba Culture, its transmission, and practice across the EU and Latin American countries.
While the cluster is focused on the museum project which will extends from 2019 to 2024, it is open to other projects within this period, said Barta.
“Culture has the unique power to connect people across boundaries and across cultures. In this time of uncertainties, this is more important than ever. EUNIC recognizes the importance of culture, political dialogue and sustainable development as well as the role of EUNIC clusters in supporting cultural cooperation with partner countries,” said EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Samuela Isopi.
“Beyond this project, I welcome the closer dialogue and cooperation between EU and Nigeria, with our Nigerian partners on cultural cooperation to identify opportunities for collaboration in the coming years, by working closely together with our Nigerian partners, and with EUNIC Nigeria Cluster,” concluded Isopi.