As part of its efforts to promote the socio-economic empowerment of Yoruba oral artists and the preservation of Yoruba culture, the UNESCO-IFCD-UNIOSUN Project has entered into a collaborative relationship with the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria, TAMPAN.
The UNESCO-IFCD-UNIOSUN Project is sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), under the aegis of International Fund for Cultural Diversity, IFCD, and backed by the Osun State Government.
The collaboration is to ensure that TAMPAN is fully involved in the selection of budding talents and the provision of formal professional trainings to selected youths across the southwest on various aspects of Yoruba oral genres.
Briefing the TAMPAN Leadership about the project, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Clement Odunayo Adebooye who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (ARIP) Prof. Adetunji Kehinde noted that the institution is not only at the forefront of academic excellence but also playing significant roles in promoting Yoruba cultural values.
In his address, Prof. Olukoya Ogen, the Principal Investigator of the UNESCO-funded project revealed that between 100 to 120 Yoruba youths will undergo formal professional trainings on various aspects of Yoruba oral genres.
Prof. Ogen further stated that the collaboration will further strengthen the ‘town-gown relationship’ mantra of UNIOSUN.
Otunba Bolaji Amusan popularly known as Mr. Latin, the Global President of TAMPAN, who led five National and six Osun State Excos of the Association to UNIOSUN responded by expressing his gratitude to the university for finding the association worthy of partnership for the cultural project.
He added, “We are not only going to bring worthy people who would want to be a part of this programme but we will make ourselves available in many ways in order to make this vision a successful one and use our global platform to publicise this laudable initiative that we are so proud to associate with.”
The project has three major objectives, first, to identify, locate and collate various aspects of Yoruba oral genres and provide formal professional trainings to selected youths across the southwest, 50% of whom will be Yoruba female oral artists. Second, to reinvent by digitising Yoruba cultural moral tales and stories through animations, caricatures, and cartooning technology, and third, to enhance sustainable cultural policies and the international mobility of artists that will cater for the socio-economic empowerment of Yoruba oral artists.