Five Cowries Fetes Local Community at ‘Falomo Festival’

Omolabake Fasogbon

Nigeria’s social enterprise, Five Cowries Art Education Initiative has restated its commitment to art education at the occasion of ‘Falomo Festival’ that held in Lagos.

The event took place at Falomo under bridge, where community members, including children and youths, were engaged in arts and sports.

Falomo under bridge is a public space regenerated by a team of creatives including the founder of Five Cowries Art Education Initiative, Polly Alakija.

The bridge, which houses Alakija’s famous #BringBackOurGirls mural, has since its creation in 2017 become a space for many outdoor events including five-aside football and other creative events.

At the event, young creatives were guided by a team of mentors in the arts as they co-created work that was later performed at the live event.

Children were also engaged in creating art and musical instruments with recycled materials including plastic bottles.

The festival also presented an opportunity for the organisation to showcase the modus operandi of its new arm, Five Cowries Foundation.

According to Alakija, the foundation will harness the productive talent and opportunities that abound in Nigeria and Africa at large.

She said, “The presence of mentors such as Ade Bantu, Toni Kan, Ojoma Ochai and Maurice Chapot–to name a few provides an example of ways to empower the youth by creating opportunities and networks that can serve as launchpads for their careers”.