Pioneering a New Era for Art with Art for Charity

Esther Oluku

In a ground-breaking initiative, five visual artists converged at the Regent Hotel in Ikeja GRA, Lagos, on Saturday, November 23, to showcase their works and raise funds for a charity project. The Art Exchange programme, the first of its kind in Nigeria, brought together artists, collectors, and gallerists in an unmediated space to network, share ideas, and appreciate artistic talents while contributing to social good. 

The visioner and convener of the Art Exchange, Godfrey Williams Okorodus explained that the event aimed to provide artists with a platform to interact with each other and own each other’s works, while also supporting a worthy cause. The end goal of this art exchange is to raise funds for a charity project that provides notebooks for students of Festac Grammar School, Okorodus’ alma mater.

For this first edition of Art Exchange, participating artists and works presented are as follows: Francis Denedo (sculptures), Silas Adelanke Adeoye (paintings), Ojo Olabisi Johnson (epoxy-etching), Godfrey Williams Okorodus (paintings), and Emmanuel Dudu (paintings).

“After we have done this exchange, we can now have collectors who can procure these works, or the artist can take the works and either sell them at a later date or keep them as part of their collection with part of the proceeds from the exchange given out to the charity,” Okorodus explained.

“Last year, we printed 20,000 notebooks, of which we gave out 13,000. This year we printed well over 11,000 notebooks. So to generate future funding for the notebook project, I had to find a way where we can have charity events like this where art can be exchanged and collectors can pick works at very reasonable rates.”

Participating artists described the programme as innovative for both the art community and the public, considering the prevailing economic climate of the country. With many children at risk of dropping out of school because of unavailability of funds, Ojo Olabisi Johnson stated that the exchange is an easy approach to marketing art products while also touching the lives of less privileged persons in society.

Francis Denedo opined that giving is important at a time like this, seeing that there are a lot of people that are in lack around us. For Emmanuel Dudu, the exchange is an opportunity for artists to enrich their individual collections through the traditional barter system.

On his part, Mobalaji Ajibike, who represented Silas Adelanke, explained that the Art Exchange is a new movement with enormous potential for the art industry.

Speaking on the potential of continuity, Okorodus said that with the success of this first Art Exchange, he is optimistic that the initiative will continue in the coming years.