Sanwo-Olu Launches Free Academy For Youths In Creative Industry

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, launched EbonyLife Creative Academy, a world-class film and television production institute, established by EbonyLife Media in conjunction with the Lagos State Creative Industry Initiative (LACI)
The Academy offers state-of-the-art lecture rooms, projection and sound facilities, as well as practical studio workshop spaces and post-production facilities fitted with latest technology.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, launched EbonyLife Creative Academy, a world-class film and television production institute, established by EbonyLife Media in conjunction with the Lagos State Creative Industry Initiative (LACI) – a parastatal under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

The Academy, whose campus is located at Engineering Close on Victoria Island, kicked off with intensive training for 120 creative young people, admitted for free, practical courses designed by industry experts across all aspects of filmmaking and media content production.

The Academy offers state-of-the-art lecture rooms, projection and sound facilities, as well as practical studio workshop spaces and post-production facilities fitted with latest technology to ensure cohorts have a conducive learning environment and advance their skillset.

Inaugurating the creative institute, Sanwo-Olu said the project was initiated not only to create jobs and economic opportunities for creative young people but also designed to bolster positive impact on the production of quality creative contents, thereby stimulating the creative economy.

The governor was optimistic that Lagos, in the next couple of years, would have a pool of young highly skilled, tech-savvy, creative film and television professionals, who would conveniently fill the roles always offered to foreign crew.

Sanwo-Olu disclosed that a faculty of local and international experts had been recruited as course facilitators to impart life and career-transforming knowledge, skills and education, thereby making participants more employable and boosting their entrepreneurial skills.

The governor said the project was one of the initiatives being rolled out to transform the creative landscape in Lagos and give the youth a new lease of experience in honing their potential.

He said the ongoing revamping of National Arts Theatre in Iganmu by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bankers’ Committee in partnership with Lagos and Federal Government, was to deliver a world-class Creative Park, where creative young people could expand their trade and skills

Sanwo-Olu said the 6,000-kilometre fibre optic infrastructure being laid across the state signalled the commitment of his administration in providing backbone for the creative industry.