Chief Executive Officer of Zmirage, Teju Kareem, voted for sponsorship of art and entertainment events in the country while speaking at the press conference for this year’s edition of the annual MUSON Festival. In this interview with Assistant Life Editor, TERH AGBEDEH, he expatiates on it, talks about WSICE and the Ijegba forest amphitheatre.
You again did your magic in Ijegba forest this year during the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE) programme. How easy was it to put the event together?
One of the traits of an artiste: you have got to be passionate and most times you cannot achieve that kind of level if you are cautious, which does not in any way presuppose carelessness. But you must be able to throw caution to the wind and dare to dream if you must aspire to join the visionaries. It cannot and has not been given on a platter of gold, the top notch artistic endeavour.
Starting on Soyinka, he will tell you, we all know his story; he is not a product of the super-rich. If you spend time with him, you will hear what he has gone through. As students of history, we all know what he went through when he was a toddler and we are also present here to also see what he is going through. At 81, he is still on the streets of Abuja protesting. This is the humanity that is embedded in any artiste and it drives you. So when the magic is done, it is only because everybody involved made sacrifice to put us out there in the public. Once we are ready as a collective people aspiring to reach that height the likes of what we had in July will continue. That is how we have been able to put it up. It’s being stubborn. Being not too far from a doom-digger, it’s also not being cautious.
With the spectacle that has been put up in that forest, would there be productions there, monthly; do you think that will work out and are you planning that?
The Jahmans (Anikulapo) of this world, the Tunde Awosanmis of this world who deserve much credit for pushing the agenda of the Ijegba forest amphitheatre, we met not too long ago and Professor Wole Soyinka himself has actually put me on the spot as regards the intention of what to follow.
How soon is there going to be productions there, and is it just going to be plays by Soyinka?
Not that we didn’t have our plans or intentions, but we want it to mature and in the process of nursing it to what we desire we have left our minds open to ideas and suggestions. But one thing is sure; it won’t go into extinction.
Prof. Soyinka said something to the effect that you must pay dues to the woman who was farming there before the theatre was built.
I was not privy to that arrangement and I don’t know when he said that. But first and foremost, the spirit behind that statement was that where we positioned the amphitheatre, some people, the villagers, were actually making a livelihood there. They had their farms there and they were growing their cassava, vegetables. In his humane nature, what he prides himself on is his ability to live with people and does not want to inconvenience them in anyway. He does not want his activities to take away their livelihood. On that, he insisted that until we were able to show him in written form before we were able to have…
His approval?
We won’t say approval. I think he is still considering.
But who actually owns the land where the amphitheatre is located?
The people own the theatre and the theatre is for the people.
The WSICE itself, how easy has doing it annually been, considering the dearth of corporate sponsorship that was talked about during the MUSON festival press conference?
Sponsorship fatigue; I take exemption to that. If there would be sponsorship fatigue, I don’t think the likes of MUSON should suffer from that fatigue. I know the entertainment industry; I know so well that if there is a N500 million concert being sponsored by multinationals and if the hierarchy of the MUSON put their weight behind it, they can have a chunk of that. We just need to know and pursue it, and I am saying that there are budgets for projects like that, as we speak, in the region of three, four, five hundred million naira for the same art endeavour. Now, the question is whether the sponsors are willing to do something for the society as against going for the popular ones? As far as I am concerned, we are not waiting for them to give; we will go and ask and also educate them as to the need for them to put the money there.
From your own experience running WSICE since Soyinka turned 76, what has it been like getting sponsorship; that N500 million you talked about, have you been able to access it?
The answer is no. And I am not saying that I have one solution to sponsorship drive. But I am saying emphatically that if fatigue should be experienced, MUSON’s challenge – because of what it stands for, because of its network – is more of a one week parley or retreat to have a creative idea as to how to go about (tackling) this sponsorship fatigue because the idea behind MUSON is so noble. Most of us are beneficiaries of MUSON. I might not be a direct beneficiary from MUSON, but by the fact that MUSON exists, in terms of brand, it gives credence to me as an artiste. If MUSON should suffer sponsorship fatigue, then there is doom for the arts.
My experience is not any different from MUSON; we have not gotten the desired sponsorship, but, like I said, using the network, we have been able to sustain the international cultural exchange programme in terms of target sponsorship.
Have you started planning the next edition?
Yes.
How is the response from would-be sponsors?
Let’s make one thing clear; when the artistes are together, we always speak about money and sponsorship. When the multinationals that have the money sit together, they are looking for art. So we must find a way where the two will meet. The world powers, when they sit together, talk about arts, nature. It is not science or IT (information technology) they talk about; they talk about nature, about art. And when we artistes sit together, we talk about money. The implication is that our minds are working and we just have to find a way to bring them together. I am not always one of those who are bothered about sponsorship for arts because art has survived and it will continue to survive. It has its own way of surviving and it will continue to survive; so sponsorship is not our own start point for daring to think or daring to excel in our work.
Anywhere you go these days, Zmirage seems to be taking the lead in the technical on stage. Only two or three Sundays ago, you were at the National Theatre for the finale of the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN)’s Creative Station Workshop for kids. Anywhere something is happening these days, Zmirage is there. How do you do it; how are you even able to find the energy to spread so much and still come out tops?
We are committed to providing technical services to the entertainment industry. We are also convinced that the setback that we have in terms of reception for art in totality, which includes sponsorship in this part of the world, can be attributed to the fact that our events are drab, lack magic, are not pregnant, barren. And name it, from one award to the last award, even MUSON shows, they are barren and I make bold to say that. Barren in the sense of what is called experience, performance; I don’t go to a theatre to listen to story, to see acting; I am in a theatre to experience. If I go to an award, I am not there to see who gets an award, I go there to experience, to have an outing that provides me with the totality of experience. And that is missing. What I see at awards (ceremonies) is reeling out of names and costumes coming up on stage. I don’t have experience. But when you tune on your TV and see the likes of the Grammy and Oscars, you probably hardly remember one song, one face; but you will not in any way be barren or starved of the experience of having witnessed an Oscar (ceremony).
Spectacle
Beyond spectacle. It’s fulfilment of the psyche, looking for something extraordinary that is not available in everyday living. That is what is called show; that is why it is named an event; it is a one-off experience that lasts for years. That is why we set up Zmirage; it is essentially to add value, the technology that is available in the entertainment industry to complete all the metaphors, all the elements that are required to tell our own story.
