LIMCAF Expands To Host A Bootcamp, Art Residency In 2025

Life In My City Festival (LIMCAF) is expanding its artistic offering with the introduction of Bootcamp for artists, and an art residency in the year 2025.

A chat with the LIMCAF art director, Dr Ayo Adewunmi, at the ongoing 2024 LIMCAF Abuja Regional Exhibition reveals that the two to three weeks bootcamp, scheduled for early 2025, is targeted at a group of LIMCAF participants who make its Top 25 list. It will feature art professionals from within and outside Nigeria who will teach artists on topics such as ‘How to Make it in the Art Business, What is the Art Market Like? How to Improve the Quality of One’s Art etc.’.

Outside of the festival, LIMCAF is also introducing an art residency in Enugu that is open to applications from previous LIMCAF participants, be it at national or regional level, from 2015 to date. Four selected artists will be sponsored on the all-expenses paid residency in Enugu, at the end of which a mini-exhibition of artworks produced at the residency will hold.

The residency is limited to visual arts.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP Books & Arts, Adewunmi said, “We are trying to expand. These funding are applied for and strictly specific. A lot of fund providers are very precise about visual arts. But we will start this year with a literary art event as part of the grand finale. It will be one day or one evening completely focused on literary arts.”

As a festival, Adewunmi said the vision of LIMCAF has been first, to become one of the top three destination art events in Africa like Dark’Art Senegal. Second, to ensure it attains the full status of a festival by incorporating music, literary and theatre arts arms.

Hence, “we want to ascribe a day, during the festival, organize literary activities where we can hold literary competition for school children. We can also add music. Musi has a lot of followership. We have to invite music artists to perform in the evenings, like Art X does. That way, one who may not be coming to the festival for the music, can branch in on their way out, to view the art pieces.”

He continued, “For us organizers, we feel that if we repeat what we did last year, then the organization is dying. The moment you stop growing you are dead. So, each year, we look forward to raising our standard/level. Just like expanded our students’ workshops in Enugu to include workshops for different-abled children. This year, we expanded the inclusive workshop beyond the Coal City state.”

Beyond the consistent expansion of its artistic offering, LIMCAF measures success via its sustainability, and its festival output.

For one, the festival in its 18th edition, with the exception of the COVID period, has held annually since inception in 2007. And over 34 artists have been sponsored on an all expenses paid international art event (Dark’Art Senegal) since 2017, via the support of internationally acclaimed artist, El Anatsui.

“There were times we had no sponsors. Now we have a few sponsors. They are happy with the results of the festival. They see people winning prizes, some going off to set up galleries or art studios. Some are sought internationally, and moving from one exhibition to another. It gives us joy.

“People keep saying Nigeria is not good. If people can copy this example of ours – of making it happen for a few people, Nigeria will be good for all,” said Adewunmi.

Themed Humanism, the 2024 LIMCAF Abuja regional exhibition runs June 20 through 27th, and displays 75 artworks out of 637 submissions made to the festival.

Interested viewers can visit other regional exhibitions of LIMCAF – Ibadan – June 7 to July 3, Abeokuta – June 29 to July7; Ondo – Jun July 12 to 1; Uyo – July 15 to 19; Zaria -July 22 to 25; Port Harcourt – second week of August. Enugu – August 6 to 13; Jos – July 15 to 19; Jalingo – July 8 to 16; Ilorin – July 11-17.