Festival Grants

Heroes Past and Present bridges the gap between the older generation and the emerging generation of makers in the  community of the artist and to create programs that serve the marginalized minority group there. The desire to explore native intelligence in making works and in the artistic research and implementation process. The project is interested in reviving the community folklore theater practice in Kaduna through the collaboration and production of a repertoire of renowned dancer, choreographer, theater director and playwright Madam Ruth Sankey. The project is a satire to the political quagmire of her times. This will be in company of her former students now also valuable resource persons. The production will be featured during the second edition of Duniatè Culture Festival 2024 and will feature a new generation of dancers from Nigeria, Germany, and France that have shown interest in the traditional and cultural philosophies and aesthetic of African dances with focus in the Northern Nigerian cultural dance scene.

Heroes Past and Present is a gratitude project that intends to motivate the elder artists in our society by reliving their past works in the present that had strategic impact in its time as a voice for social and political justice. We focus on Madam Ruth Sankey and her team from their work ROUNDABOUTS from the early 90s. The work is a theater dance drama production that displayed her courage and tenacity as a performer and director to address the mis-placed priority of the government in her time towards the actual needs of the people.