The festival is designed to promote creativity, celebrate artistic excellence, and provide a platform for both emerging and established artists to showcase their talents. It will feature exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, mixed media works, photography, and other forms of visual art. Visitors are also expected to enjoy live art demonstrations, networking sessions, and discussions on the importance of art in cultural development and national growth.
FOR six days, starting April 20 and running through April 25, the exhibition foyer of the National Museum Onikan, Lagos, will play host to a festival of the creatives cutting across disciplines — visual arts, performing arts, literary arts and allied cultural expressions. It is the 2026 edition of the Art Arising Art Festival, which since its indception in 2018, has proved to be one of the veritable platform through which creatives of diverse vocations and persuasions gather to showcase their creative works.
Initiator of the project, who is also the lead curator, Juliet Ezenwa Maja Pearce, said though the festival suffered a last minute cancellation last year due to the rising and pervasive insecurity in the country, the 2026 edition is retiring s stronger and more robust wither 20 artists drawn from different geo-political zones of the country are participating.
The Curator, who is also founder of the ArtAlliance 51 Artists Group, the organisers of the festival, said the project is making a huge return having overcome some of its initial challenges, particularly funding and logistics.
Every two years, the festival highlights emerging and established artists, focusing on diverse Nigerian contemporary art practices, including painting, photography, sculpture, and performance. It also serves as a platform for artists to showcase creativity, aiming to promote artistic growth and visibility within the Nigerian art scene.
For this year, participants include Jairus Iweajunwa, Ogemdi Okechukwu-Asie, Oladipupo Adesina, Dr Kunle Adeyemi, Omo Udenta, Sam Ovraiti, Fidel Oyiogu, Nurudeen Popoola, Klaranze Okhide, Juliet Ezenwa, Dr Adeola Balogun, Bunmi Oyesanya and Henry Igba. Others are Mirabo Mireille Boale, Jessica Ajuyah, Oluwatimilehin Osunneye, Edna Abugewa, Dr Aladegbongbe, Q Gallery, Tomiwa Situ, Kike Oyewale, Adavize Ibrahim, Abimbola Rukayat and Chinazo Anozie.
In a statement prefacing the year’s edition traces the chequered journey of the festival as captured below:
LATE 2024 while many Nigerians still battled with increased insecurity, weekly abductions and kidnappings, insurgence and bandits’ attacks and the World Bank observed an increase in poverty rates, we at Art Alliance 51 creative group set out to organise the Art Arising Art Festival of 2025. It was our mission to have this festival once in two years. We refused to be overwhelmed by the barrage of negative news, we sought solace in the creative arts.
We had previously had one in 2018 and 2021 respectively, we were not about to give up now. Consequent of these socio-economic and political turbulence only three participants responded to the call for the 2025 Art Arising Art Festival yet we pressed on. Hopeful the artists would register in time.
In the interim we had worked hard at follow ups and networking on getting the special guests, special guests of honour and the chairman to commit. By June of 2025 with only three participants consisting of only the organisers, we had to cancel and postpone. We were disappointed, they were very disappointed. At this point we considered having this festival with only a few participants just to avoid cancelling. We were like a Lagos bus driver risking driving from CMS to Oshodi with only three passengers, how will he account to chairman MC Oluomo at Oshodi? And if we choose to cancel and postpone, how do we inform our special guests after they had committed to this event? At the risk of looking unreliable and inefficient, we resolved to postpone. It was a difficult decision. We settled for the superior argument that what we present is larger than a group exhibition, it is a festival. Therefore, we must give the performers time to be prepare. Thus, we waited for these artists to come on board.
The special guest of honor and the chairman were disappointed, not to mention the feeling of failure on our parts due to the efforts that had gone into the preparations. Many prospective participants appealed for more time to prepare. So, with God on our side, we chose a new date.
We motivated ourselves by the World Bank’s projected economic growth of 4.2% for Nigeria between 2026 and 2028. We are determined to experience and benefit from this growth. So therefore, we resolved to present the Art Arising Art Festival not because we have the funds to do it but because we consider it our responsibility to maintain Nigeria’s one redeeming reputation- that of producing world class art and artists.
True to expectation, the artists began to emerge slowly but steadily. We want to thank Mr Adewale Maja Pearce, Prof Ebun Clark and Madam Juliana Edewor for sponsoring some participants to this festival.
A big thank you to the management and leadership of the National Museum, especially the curator Mrs Nkechi Adedeji and Mr Okechukwu for their patience and support in making the 2026 art arising art festival a reality.
With this festival we pushed our online presence to the fore. Insecurity was the major limiting factor preventing participants living outside of Lagos especially those living in Northern Nigeria. By early 2026, the US became publicly involved in Nigeria’s insecurity challenges. This brought a ray of hope which was quickly dashed by the US/Israel war with Iran. Some participants of Art Arising Art Festival expressed fear of the uncertainty caused by rising fuel prices and anxiety of a global war. As tensions escalated at the straits of Hormuz, they talked about pulling out of the festival. Global conflicts had impacted us at last. But come what may, we all will be at the national museum Onikan from Saturday 18th- 25th April exhibiting, performing and thanking God forArt Arising Art Festival 2026! IJN !.
We as a nation may have failed in other areas but everyone knows that the creatives in Nigeria are holding it down, and no one and nothing can take that away from us.
* Juliet Ezenwa Maja Pearce, Surulere Lagos
Further Reading:
- https://thenationonlineng.net/art-arising-art-festival-defying-all-odds-to-remain-choice-platform/
