I am a firm believer in the “Collective”. I believe strongly also that artists are the real earth-gods, created to elevate our society, and indeed, mankind. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the artist to shake up the baseboards of society by dismantling the structures of power and convention with unflinching fortitude, dignity, and integrity of conviction.
I AM honoured, and excited to be the focus of this great occasion. Thank you to the CIG for hosting this really amazingly diverse selection of artists. Thank you to the many individuals and diverse groups, present tonight, such as, Folakemi Olumide Aluko, Yemisi Shonubi, Ngozi Nwosu, Bunmi Diya Lawal, Korede Lawal, Reginald C Ofodile, The TALHOUSE Worldwide Group, Amb. Cornel Udofia, the Cornel Entertainment group, the Ire Akari Estate Group, CNC Gladiators, Nollywood Creative Minds; my special shout out to the indefatigable FELIX Duke and his wife, for pulling off this magnificent feat tonight, by walking his talk. Thank you. Thank you all, for the great experience!
Why, you may ask? Because we are celebrating one of our very own. I have come to notice from this constituency, over a long period of time, nothing but love, affection, regard, recognition, accolades, and respect. My unabashed gratitude.
And in that way that noticing has of revivifying the deadened spirit, I am alive, as if assured by nature that life-like art – persists against all odds. And from the inside, my world is looking up! I am happy that every day is a renewed prayer that the muse/god exists, and that she will continue to visit with me with increased force and clarity. So I am forever grateful and honoured to be counted as one of your own.
My own overriding mission is to share insights and ideas on how to elevate my life to extraordinary new levels by leveraging the power of the arts, to promote civic enlightenment, education, human rights, cultural diversity, and the spirit of solidarity particularly in Nigeria, and in Africa as a whole.
While not flawless, and open to critique, and unlike any other profession, Nollywood shines, like a beacon of Hope in our beleaguered Nation…
So right off the bat, let’s consider how we treat one another, as artists. Hebrews 3:13 admonishes that we ‘Exhort one another daily.’ …
And tonight, as we gather around the mirror to confront our true selves, deep-diving, and grasping guide-posts, on this journey of self-discovery, creativity and the embrace of our true identity, we know that the essence of our sustainable growth as an industry lies in our loyalty and the support of one another. They say: ‘United we Stand, Divided, we Fall!’
Sadly, Trust is no longer our society’s default mode. But Trust is the future of leadership, and it takes intentionality, and time, to build and sustain a culture of trust.
So as a leader, in our industry, you may be hiring and working alongside people who don’t trust you, and YOU don’t trust, either. Bad show. The problem? Trust is the glue that holds your team together. And if you don’t have it, you won’t be able to accomplish your mission. Culture is a combination of what you create and what you allow in any organisation, and to keep growing in your leadership, and sustain a strong team, building a high-trust culture is imperative. It is a win-win situation- for everyone wins, when the leader gets better!
So let’s be Exhorters of one another – forging connections that resonate across time and space… The Greek word for ‘exhort’ – parakalew or paraclete in English, comes from two words – one meaning ‘along side of’, and the other meaning ‘to call’. So you’re never more like the Holy Spirit and never more in tune with God, than when you’re exhorting and encouraging others.
An exhorter can turn a loser into a winner, a shirker into a worker, and a pessimist into an optimist. Exhorters inspire others with renewed courage, spirit, and hope. They have a ministry of affirmation and appreciation.
It is important to remember the distinction between appreciation and affirmation. We appreciate what a person does, but we affirm who a person is.
Now appreciation comes and goes because it’s usually related to someone’s accomplishments. But affirmation goes right to the heart of a person because it is directed at that person’s individual worth.
An Exhorter has the ability to make you feel good about yourself. They uplift, inspire, motivate, and make you feel better just by being around you.
So my message for this evening is: “Be an Exhorter”.
My second message. Honour your destiny call. Emerson said, “Standing on the bare ground – my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space – all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God… for even the thinking mind, the writing mind, the creating mind is a symposium of outside voices when trapped within itself”.
When it comes to your life, how are YOU looking outside the box? When it comes to your professionalism, how are YOU looking outside the box? If you look outside your box there’s a goldmine of wisdom you can use to augment your own principles. It will change the way you look at your life, success and the sheer power of your Mind – your Subconscious Mind – the single most valuable asset you have in life – to unearth creativity, ideas, and wisdom from within.
John Ruskin said: “What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, is in the end, of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do.” And what we do is show business. For there is no business, without show business, my friends.
Please allow me to speak on one of my most Favourite Topics: EXCELLENCE AND ITS IMPECCABLE EXECUTION ~ A CREATIVE’S LIFE…
CREATIVES – especially women – are constantly Battling Unconscious Bias.
So I want to acknowledge women’s progressive approach to power, how they can swim with the Sharks and survive, by harnessing their strengths, elevating their leadership skills, and advancing their professional careers, which they are increasingly demonstrating in the industry. Women in show business are proving every day that there’s more to their Allure!
Theirs is simply a strategy for leading a purpose-driven life. Incidentally, it’s a man’s issue too, of course… But Go Girls, go! I say. More power to the Queens!
Socrates, during his famous trial in 399 BC, was quoted as saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” His point was that everyone ought to ask questions about what he/she lives for, otherwise one lives a worthless life. It’s always important to ask oneself, “What do I exist for?” Or “What is my goal in life?” Or “What is my divine purpose on this earth?” This leads me to what JAMES Baldwin considered the terrible thing about being an artist: what he calls the “Doom and glory of knowing who you are.” It is that you don’t decide to become an artist, you discover that you are one!
He said an artist is a sort of emotional or spiritual historian. His role is to make you realise the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are. He has to tell because nobody else in the world can tell, what it is like to be alive. All I’ve ever wanted to do is tell that, I’m not trying to solve anybody’s problems, not even my own. I’m just trying to outline what the problems are.
As for the artist’s role as a disruptor of society, and more than a century after Emerson insisted that “only as far as (people) are unsettled is there any hope for them,” Baldwin considers this vital commitment to generative unsettlement as the central animating force of the creative spirit.
I want to be stretched, shook up, to overreach myself, and to make you feel that way too.
If you are an artist, you are guilty of a crime: not that you are aware, which is bad enough, but you see things other people don’t admit are there. Complement all that with the artist’s struggle for integrity, freedom and how we imprison ourselves, and the artists’ responsibility in a divided society, the political power of art, identity, race, and the experience of otherness, and what it means to be truly empowered.
As an artist in Nigeria, do you think your pain and heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world? Then I invite you to read Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that torment me most are the things that connect me with all the people who are alive, or who ever had been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in others.
All this calls for reflection on the inevitability of our calling. As Baldwin wrote in his classic 1962 essay, “The Creative Process” – “A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven.” Art is life. Truth is the essence. Acting is believing!
Finally, I am a firm believer in the “Collective”. I believe strongly also that artists are the real earth-gods, created to elevate our society, and indeed, mankind. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the artist to shake up the baseboards of society by dismantling the structures of power and convention with unflinching fortitude, dignity, and integrity of conviction.
It is my fervent wish that in the forefront of our dealings with one another must loom large, the spirit of intrinsic African ontological solidarity, that is the spirit of communalism or Ubuntu – “I am because you are.” As against the prevailing extrinsic doctrine of “Me, Myself, and I “. It is therefore imperative that we undertake the journey together because it is the essence of our growth.
I thank you for listening.
©️Dame TAIWO Ajai LYCETT, OON, FSONTA, FU3A
23 February 2024.
