Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, and the Minister of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa have backed efforts to ensure public-private partnerships in the creative sector.

According to a statement signed by the aide of the Minister of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy on Music and Film, Baba Agba, and made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, the culture ministry is set to host a symposium to further advance discussions on public-private partnerships in the creative industry.

The symposium themed: ‘A Creative Industry Intervention,’ the statement said will address public-private partnerships, heritage preservation, global cultural impact and training opportunities within the creative sector.

The statement noted further that, Vice President, Kashim Shettima will be the chief host of the symposium, adding that the event aims to help unite key industry players and also facilitate the formulation of initiatives that could boost Nigeria’s creative economy.

“The gathering will address public-private partnerships, heritage preservation, global cultural impact and training opportunities within the creative sector.

“The event, which is expected to catalyze actions that contribute significantly to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product and create employment opportunities for the country’s talented youth, is supported by strategic partners in Nigeria’s private sector,” Agba said.

According to reports, Musawa had declared Nigeria’s support for the creative industry noting that the nation is setting its sights on becoming the epicenter of creativity and culture in Africa.

The minister noted that the nation’s creative prospect has caught the attention of the world, adding that President Tinubu’s transformative agenda includes nurturing this valuable asset with the launch of “Destination 2030”.

She noted that all sectors of the creative industry, from literature and music to film, design, visual arts, and heritage, will be united with a shared vision.

“Nigeria sits at an inflection point where our global cultural impact is at an all-time high, combined with a new progressive administration. The time is now to support the talent and institutions that power the cultural, entertainment, and creative economy,” Musawa said.

Michael Maurello, the Art Institute of Chicago’s former payroll manager who in April pled guilty to funneling millions from the institution’s coffers into his private bank account, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the sentence included an order to repay the $2.3 million he embezzled from the museum between 2007 and 2020. US District Judge Manish Shah, who handed down the sentence, said Maurello’s actions violated the “basic trust that keeps society from falling into anarchy.”

However, the sentence was relatively lenient. In January, federal prosecutors in Illinois charged Maurello with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud for his alleged crimes—each bank fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while each wire fraud charge can result in up to 20 years in prison.

Maurello’s poor health—his leg had to be amputated due to gangrene while he was under investigation for his crimes and, as a teenager, he suffered a broken neck—was taken into consideration. He will spend his prison term in a medical facility followed by three years of supervised release.

For 13 years, Maurello skimmed money from employee paychecks to fund a luxurious lifestyle that included expensive jewelry and vacations to Las Vegas and Hawaii. During his sentencing on November 16 Maurello looked “visibly distressed,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

“I truly apologize for what I did,” he said, “the Art Institute was good to me, and I took advantage of that.”

His lawyer said Maurello had turned into a “shell of a former man” since his crimes became public.

Despite the vast sums of money Maurello stole, a spokesperson for the museum said that “because of the length of time and manner in which it was taken, [the theft] did not impact decisions around staffing, payroll, scholarship funding, programming or other financial aspects of the organization” while adding that “the cumulative loss was significant.”

The museum will recover the funds through insurance.

The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) said it had resumed full distribution of royalties to its members, with N208.5 million earmarked for members and affiliates.

Tony Okoroji, the national chairman of COSON, disclosed this during the society’s 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Lagos.

Okoroji said this followed a resolution adopted by the members during the AGM.

“Of the amount, N62,664,000.00 is set aside as “palliative royalty distribution. The money is being split equally among all members of the society whose names appear on the society’s register as of 19th May 2022 as palliatives to alleviate the pressing economic situation in the country.

“The remaining sum of N145,836,000 will be distributed to all qualified members as ‘specifics distribution’. I want to assure members of COSON and our international partners that the period of the locust is almost at an end and that with the members’ approval, COSON will, today, fully resume the distribution of royalties and benefits to our members and affiliates everywhere. God willing, before you leave here today, your phones will begin to receive the alerts,” he said.

Okoroji noted that the motion to ratify the decision of the COSON board, made at its meeting on 12 September, to approve the distribution, was created by Tony Ukate, a COSON member from Edo State and supported by Edwin Akwaeze from Imo State.

“I wish to assure you that despite the continuous harassment and torture that I have been subjected to, I am happy and proud to have been given the excellent opportunity to build and lead the COSON family.

“I verily believe in the words of Martin Luther King Jr that’ The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. I promise that I will keep the boundless fire of COSON burning and promise that our famous mantra, ‘Let the Music Pay!’ will continue to be heard everywhere,” he said.     

In a basement maze beneath Japan’s tallest skyscraper, construction crews and digital artists were racing to assemble an immersive museum that would serve as the cultural anchor of Tokyo’s latest megaproject.

TeamLab, an international collective of artists, set a Guinness World Record by attracting more than 2 million visitors in 2019 to their Borderless museum on Odaiba island in Tokyo Bay. The name refers to digital art pieces that blend into each other and encourage guests to wander at their own pace.

The attraction closed last year ahead of redevelopment of the site by Mori Building, one of Japan’s leading developers. It is due to reopen in February in Mori’s new Azabudai Hills complex in central Tokyo.

“To be able to create this kind of large space in which we can exhibit is what’s really important to us,” teamLab founder Toshiyuki Inoko said in an interview on Friday.

The relocation is part of Mori’s strategy of placing cultural attractions in integrated business and residential projects.

The 330m Mori JP Tower is due to open next week, with adjacent shopping arcades, residential towers, medical facilities and a school in various states of construction.

Several pieces of the new Borderless facility are nearing completion, including Flowers and People, a continuous computer projection of blooming and scattering petals, and Bubble Universe, a mirrored room of twinkling bulbs that appear to extend into infinity.

TeamLab has developed a global reputation for its experimental and interactive set pieces that meld images and senses. Previous projects in Tokyo featured digital art mixed with a sauna experience and a laser light show enhanced performance of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot.

“We as team want to create something that makes people feel that the continuity itself is something beautiful,” Inoko said.

OkadaBooks is shutting down its bookshelves after running for 10 years.

Okechukwu Ofili, the company’s CEO, shared the news via a statement today, November 20, 2023, on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

Citing rough macroeconomic conditions, the statement read, “After much consideration and reflection, we have come to a difficult decision. This has not been an easy choice. We’ve explored various avenues to keep our virtual bookshelves alive, but, unfortunately, the challenges we face are insurmountable”.

The CEO went on to express his sincere gratitude to the literature community for their support over the years before briefly touching on the future.

In his words, “As we bid farewell to OkadaBooks, we hope that you continue to explore the vast world of literature through other avenues. The adventure doesn’t end; it merely takes a new and exciting turn”.

Ofili, who is a writer, launched OkadaBooks in 2013 to help writers skip the challenges that often come with self-publishing and get their books directly to their readers.

Five years later, the one-of-a-kind digital publishing and bookselling platform was selected for Google’s Launchpad Accelerator Africa.

Several years later, the platform has become Africa’s leading digital content provider, with over 40,000 original books, and 400,000 registered readers.

OkadaBooks will close its virtual doors on November 30, 2023.