The Lagos State Government has released the 2019 Calendar and Schedule of Arts, Culture and Entertainment events – an annual guide for local and foreign tourists, journalists and the general public towards planning their participation in the rich cultural content the State offers throughout the year.
The Calendar, already displayed on the State’s website, is also in print form listing more than 80 events either sponsored or endorsed and supported by the Lagos State Government.
A press statement issued on Sunday by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Abosede Adelaja, said the Calendar is “designed to frontload major State-sponsored and privately-driven arts, culture and entertainment events that will have a positive impact on tourism promotion and the creative economy”.
She explained that the release of the Calendar follows the initiative that started in 2018 in which major arts and tourism-promoting events taking place in the State throughout the year are announced in January to aid planning.
According to her, “This year’s calendar is rich in entertainment events all year round especially in April and the last quarter of the year leading to December. Also, different festivals like Eebi Epe; Kayokayo; Agboremireke; Egungun; Ikorodu Oga and Zangbeto dot the Calendar all through the year”.
“Like in 2018, Ali Baba’s January 1 Comedy Concert tops the listing while other events like the Prof. Akin Euba Symposium and Concert; Wazobia FM Carnival, Dance Gathering by Q Dance Company, British-Council powered Lagos Dance Festival and the Lagos Marathon will hold in January and February”, the Permanent Secretary noted.
Adelaja emphasised that the State intends to celebrate both the World Theatre Day on March 27th and World Dance Day in April while the iRep Documentary Festival and the Eko Film Festival are slated for the first quarter of 2019.
She averred that idea of creating a calendar of events for state-sponsored and state-endorsed programmes is part of efforts to make event planning, tour bookings and business decisions easier for tour operators and the general public.
The Permanent Secretary maintained that by improving access to tourism information and creating an events guide for the media and tour bloggers, the State has enjoyed a considerable increase in the consumption of its tourism products, saying that though the schedule is not exhaustive, the Ministry will periodically update the online calendar to accommodate more events whenever organisers bring such to the attention of government.
