STEADY AS SHE GOES – ONE YEAR IN!

This is the 12th blog that I am writing since assuming office as the 5th permanent Director/CEO of The Africa Centre; which means that earlier this week, I had the first year anniversary of having my hand on the tiller of this beautiful, yet fragile cultural vessel that constantly requires steady navigating through increasingly choppy waters that have a myriad leviathan perils lurking just below the surface.

So how has it been these past 12 months, you ask? Exciting, Exhilarating and Maddening, would be the honest answer – and it is sometimes all three together! Suffice to say that when I started a year ago, I thought that The Africa Centre would warrant but a chapter in my autobiography, but soon after I started, I realised that it would actually require its own book series! The highs have been very high, and the lows have been almost subterranean – this is a situation that I know many people leading a Third Sector are experiencing in the rough funding climate out there.

It is apt that I am commemorating this anniversary as we prepare to open the new Wole Soyinka @ 90th birthday celebrations. Prof Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, has long been a hero of mine, so it is apt that we are marking this event at the Centre with a 9 day cultural extravaganza. (Tickets may still be available for certain events.)

What have I learnt over the past 12 months?

I.                 The weight of heritage – The goodwill extended to the Centre has been humbling.

II.                The power of our Dreams – Have a vision, assess options and opportunities and go for it.

III.              The importance of great partners, and even better friends – programming with no budget has been an incredible challenge.

IV.              Tough Skin: Need I say more?

V.               Remember who you are. Always.

The main thing I have to say to everyone is THANK YOU. Thanks to all the people who have collaborated with us over the past year, helping to make this a genuine ‘Home Away From Home’ by reigniting the flame of The Centre in hearts and souls across not just the organisation but indeed, across the world. THANK YOU to everyone who has sponsored and supported us over the past year. THANK YOU to all my friends and family, whose support I will never take for granted. THANK YOU to you for reading and sharing this, and for always providing me with constructive feedback.

I look forward to the next 12 months, steadfast in my determination to help elevate this wonderful, weird, exciting, vitally important institution called The Africa Centre, into being THE centre of excellence that Africa, Africans and the world will be proud of.

Here’s to the future!

 

Olu

HIGHLIGHTS

My Favourite Africa Centre event over the past year? The ‘Para Juntar’ PALOP Day in November 2023 organised as part of the Malangatana heritage project. It will be forever etched in my mind for the words of a participant when leaving the Centre having experienced Angolan Kizomba, Cape Verdean Doco de coco, Sao Tomean art, Mozambican fashion and a Guinea Bissan DJ: “This is the first time in my life in the UK that I have felt seen”.

My Proudest Moment: Being approached by 14 different organisations across Africa to partner with them for an Internal Collaboration Grants application. We must have been doing something right!

My Happiest Memory: Standing in the midst of 40,000 people in Portimao as the sun went down behind the AfroNation main stage and a video of The Africa Centre comes up and people take pictures and scan the QR codes. A wonderful way to cement the kick-off of our relationship with SMADE Entertainment.

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