CHIEF JOE MUSA, THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART MEETS
WITH CURATORS AND PRIVATE GALLERY OWNERS.

The Director General of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) Chief Joe Musa has pledged his committment to transform the Nigerian Visual Art to a level that can compete favourably with other sectors of the Nigerian economy.

He said this at a forum of Curators and owners/operators of Private Art Galleries in Lagos. Chief Joe Musa who said that he wants to use the National Gallery of Art to reposition modern works of Art as an investment vehicle that will drive Nigerian economy to greater height, however, appealed to Artists to come together as one entity, saying that it is only when this is done that this can be fully realized and that there will be no gallery without artists.

The Director General further said that his dreams are that the Nigerian artist rank top and compete favourably with their counterparts in other professions, where visual art and the business of visual art occupy a pride of place within the circle of economic activities in this country, where issues of visual art are taken to the front burners in our National discourse and ultimately where Nigerian art and artists consistently feature on the front page of Nigerian Dailies.

At the forum, the Director General also informed the participants that the National Gallery of Art will be sponsoring an Art Expo tagged “Art Expo Nigeria” which will be primarily for private Galleries.  The Art Expo Nigeria which the Director General promises will be massive and will hopefully create the market that we have been carving for.

In the same vein, Chief Joe Musa told the gathering at the forum of the plan for the Nigeria Gallery of Art to host the First African Regional Summit on Visual Art, tagged, (ARESUVA) with the theme: Promoting Economic Growth and Development in Africa.

The forum which was organized by National Gallery of Art (NGA) witnessed a large turnout of 37 private art gallery operators in Nigeria.

The President of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), Mr. Kolade Oshinowo who described the Director General as a magician said that Chief Joe Musa has brought light to the contemporary works of art that will witness a boom in the world of modern Nigerian art.

At the forum a number of resolutions were arrived at.

1.      The House agreed that there is an urgent need to reposition and re-invigorate the visual arts so that it will take its pride of place on the front pages of Nigerian Newspapers.
2.      That all galleries must be accredited and certified by the Nigerian Gallery of Art (NGA) and Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA)
3.      That for any artist or private galleries to participate in any art exhibition, they must be registered members of the Society of Nigerian Artists.

4.      It was also resolved that there shall be a directory of private galleries in Nigeria which shall be widely circulated.
5.      The House resolved that the pilot edition of art Expo Nigeria will hold at the end of May 2008 at a venue in Lagos to be announced in due course.  Subsequently the Expo will take place annually.
6.      It was agreed that the infrastructure existing at Nkem Gallery (run by Chief Frank Okonta) would be used to facilitate the establishment of an Association of Private Gallery Owners.
7.      A Committee will be set up to fashion out modalities for hosting of Art Expo Nigeria.  Members of the Committee will be drawn from the private gallery owners and the National Gallery of Art.
8.      It was agreed that the Committee go and inspect several possible venues around Lagos for Art Expo Nigeria.
9.      It was finally resolved that there is a need to shore up public-private sector
participation in visual arts administration and management to ensure that the business of art becomes business indeed and not just art for art’s sake.