Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) has secured $25 million from foreign investors.
This is as it appealed for local investment in the facility.
The executive director, MOWAA, Phillip Ihenacho, stated this during a dinner in Lagos in honour of MOWAA and the return of the Nigeria Pavilion from the 2024 Venice Biennale. The dinner served as a celebration and a fundraising rally for the soon-to-be-launched MOWAA campus in Benin City, Edo State.
Speaking, a member of the development board of MOWAA, Ike Chioke, an investment banker and cultural advocate, underscored the urgency of preserving Nigeria’s cultural identity through deliberate investment in its heritage. Reflecting on the institution’s journey since its inception in 2019, Chioke emphasised that
MOWAA has come of age, with the first of many buildings on its Benin City campus now operational.
He highlighted the museum’s strategic location in Benin, a city renowned for its historical bronzes, as a deliberate choice that speaks to MOWAA’s broader vision of anchoring cultural ownership in a space historically connected to African artistic excellence.
Ihenacho explained the museum’s founding ethos as one rooted not only in restitution and remembrance but in revitalisation.
He said, “we did not want to be a memorial for art done hundreds of years ago. The bronze casters that were crafting 600 years ago have descendants who are ready to begin again. This is about looking backward, only so we can look forward.”
Ihenacho pointed out that the museum, through its broad ambition, seeks to support a new generation of creatives beyond visual art to include designers, musicians and filmmakers.
He highlighted how perceptions of the country shifted over the past 20 to 25 years. According to him, mentioning Nigeria used to prompt discussions about negative experiences, but today, people respond with admiration, particularly for Nigeria’s arts and culture such as music, film and fashion.
Ihenacho suggested, this cultural influence will ultimately surpass oil and gas as the country’s competitive advantage, saying that the museum aims to capitalise on this shift, emphasising its dynamic role in fostering and showcasing Nigeria’s cultural assets rather than merely being a traditional, static museum.
The director, MOWAA, Ore Disu, expanded the conversation to the exciting programmes ahead, including artist residencies, conservation efforts and knowledge production initiatives. Disu explained that MOWAA was designed not only to preserve art but to inspire new works grounded in deep cultural understanding.
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