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ReConnect Africa is a unique website and online magazine for the African professional in the Diaspora. Packed with essential information about careers, business and jobs, ReConnect Africa keeps you connected to the best of Africa.

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ImageAs a producer and promoter, Yemisi Mokuolu has long championed African arts and culture globally.  Her involvement with building the capacity of creatives across film, music and other industries has seen her promote numerous events and platforms for new and established artists.

ReConnect Africa spoke to Yemisi about her exciting portfolio of creative projects.

ReConnect Africa (RCA): Can you tell us about a bit about yourself?

Yemisi Mokuolu: I am the founder of a consultancy called HATCH which, over the past 10 years, I have developed into one of the foremost agencies in the UK working for the growth and sustainability of the Creative, Cultural and Entertainment industries. My special focus is on African creative content and the creative industries across Africa.

Through HATCH I have delivered, as a producer, large-scale festivals and arts seasons and, as a creative industry consultant, I have delivered pivotal capacity building programmes, enterprise development projects and urban regeneration programmes in the UK, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. Clients I have worked with include Amnesty International, Arts Council England, Bank of Industry (Nigeria), the BBC,  British Council, NESTA, Ravensbourne, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, and the Royal College of Art and Social Enterprise London.

RCA: What attracted you to work within the creative industries sector?

Yemisi Mokuolu: I’ve always been interested in arts, music, theatre, culture, history and making things. I studied Textiles at GCSE and at A-Level and studied History of Art at Leeds University. My ambition, then, was to be an art commentator – making the art world more open and accessible to everyone and anyone. To bring art and art spaces away from their elitist enclaves; as art, like science and history, offers so much to enabling people to understand and better their current condition.

As part of my mission, I wanted to open up African arts to the world. Whilst studying for my degree, I was shocked that not a single African artist was listed. How could they, therefore, call it History of Art! African artists weren’t part of history and somehow I felt that meant that I wasn’t either.

I therefore married the only skills I had, that of being an events organiser, with my need to widen people’s experience and understanding of African art.

That was how, in 2003, “Out of Africa” was born. This was my flagship event and was a series of live events and online African events listings to promote and profile African arts.

“As part of my mission, I wanted to open up African arts to the world. Whilst studying my degree, I was shocked that not a single African artist was listed!”

 

Around 2005/2006, it was apparent that not just the art, but the artists themselves needed promoting and profiling. I didn’t want to be a manager, but I certainly wanted to create an environment in which they could thrive. That’s how “Creative Africa” was born. This is essentially a business support service specifically for those in the creative, cultural, digital and entertainment industries.

RCA: What are some of the projects that you have worked on or are currently involved in?

Yemisi Mokuolu: I am best known for the “Out of Africa” events which I ran between 2003 and 2010, and for which I received a number of business and events awards and accolades. Until 2007, these were hosted as monthly club nights, creating a space for African artist to showcase their talents and for African arts lovers to discover one another and celebrate their love of African arts.


The highlight was between 2005 and 2008, when we staged five festivals attracting, on average, 20,000 people to each festival. It was a truly wonderful and life affirming achievement when we hosted the festival in Carnaby Street and, over eight days, transformed the space into an Afro-wonderland. Money and energy willing, we will be able to host similar African arts explosions in the near future.

I have also been fortunate to have been commissioned to produce some of the UK’s most prestigious arts festivals and events. I project managed “Across the Street, Around the World”, a month-long arts season for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, and designed and, in 2012, produced Amnesty International’s flagship and internationally recognised Edinburgh Festival programme.

Over the past seven years my motivation has expanded from not only promoting art work as an events producer, but also supporting the artists themselves to grow and become sustainable. I achieve this as an arts consultant working with organisations that have included Arts Council England, Social Enterprise London and NESTA, to provide strategic and operational development at industry and practitioner level in the creative, cultural and entertainment industries. At present, I am very much engaged in enterprise development and currently supporting a number of creative enterprises to become investment-ready. These include the “Asaabako Music Festival” in Ghana, now in its third year, and “Nollywood Global”, a film production company that was launched in January this year.

In addition, I continue to use my event management skills to design business development programmes, information sessions and knowledge transfer initiatives to provide support at industry level. The most recent being the “UK-Nigeria Creative Partnership” on behalf of The British Council and Bank of Industry (Nigeria), which explored and disseminated solutions on how to creative better market linkages between the UK and Nigeria’s creative industries.

RCA: While film industries like Nollywood are now well established, how do you think Africa’s creative industries are meeting the challenges of quality vs. quantity?

Yemisi Mokuolu: Quite simply we do not have the quantity and volume of artistic expression and creative content that we need in order to start being concerned about quality. Once we have more volume, competition will come into play and that is what will influence quality.

We are just expressing ourselves right now and we should not compare ourselves with other cultures that have much more robust infrastructures to produce creative content. I’m just enjoying the fact that attitudes towards the Creative, Cultural and Entertainment industries as credible career options have changed drastically across Africa – no longer will a parent suffer a minor stroke if their child says they want to be a singer, filmmaker or fashion designer. They are readily sponsoring their children to study at some of the world’s most prestigious creative institutes.

We are at a point where we just need to produce as much as we can, and just enjoy the massive range of styles that can come out of the continent. And, as I have previously stated, we are acquiring the skills, so quality is not a concern. We just have to sit back and welcome the talent. My only real concern is that we are losing traditional skills. We need to value them more – yes, enhance them with technology – but we should not abandon them, as this is what will define and make Africa’s multiple creative offerings its own.

RCA: What are some of the barriers that Africans face in telling our own stories on the global stage?

Yemisi Mokuolu: Here are some of the main barriers that come to mind. If you can overcome these, then everyone will hear your story, and believe it. Achebe comes to mind

Access – Who owns the communication platforms? Do they want to tell your story to their audience?

Audience – Do these people really want to hear the story? Does the story matter to them?

Authenticity– Do you know the facts or are you recounting hearsay? Do you know the actual history of what you are saying?

Authority – Who is allowed to tell the story? Do you have the credibly to tell the story? Is this your story to tell?

RCA: You recently delivered the closing speech at the African Creative Industries Investment Summit.  How do you believe more investment can be sourced and channelled into these sectors?

Yemisi Mokuolu: Many investors are still waiting for those big return creative business case study success stories to be prevalent in the mainstream before they put their money in. However, the real players already know that investing in the creative industries in Africa is a no-brainer. Why? Because the market is by no means saturated.

“I’m just enjoying the fact that attitudes towards the Creative, Cultural and Entertainment industries as credible career options have changed drastically across Africa – no longer will a parent suffer a minor stroke if their child says they want to be a singer, filmmaker or fashion designer.”

Africa is going through its Industrial Revolution and will see returns enjoyed by BRIC nations. In terms of the creative industries, Africans need creative content; from lamp shades, music, films, shoes, buildings to chairs. The investment matrix will satisfy short-term to longer-term investors. As the middle classes emerge and grow across the continent, investors, funders, financiers will be falling over themselves to put money into creative products and services.

The economic case for the creative industries has already been made and is well understood in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. It will create more jobs than Oil and Gas could ever provide. In answer to your question, governments and entrepreneurs across the continent are putting in place the infrastructure in terms of policy, connectivity, production houses and licensing that is needed to make it possible for investment to take place in the creative industries across Africa.

RCA: Given the benefits of technology, how do you see things developing within the creative industries?

Yemisi Mokuolu: I see them as only moving forward. The Internet, email and mobile phones have given Africans probably 100 times better access than they had six years ago to information, customers and ideas. This has allowed, and will continue to allow, for rapid growth within the Creative, Cultural, Digital and Entertainment industries.

Furthermore, because the main currency of these industries is ideas; intellectual property, these new digital technologies have allowed ideas to be bought and sold more quickly and to a more diverse audience/customer base. A singer in Kigali can have their song sold in Rome. A dress-maker in Lagos can have their dress bought in Los Angeles. A furniture designer in Cape Town can sell their designs to a company in Stockholm. It’s beyond exciting.

RCA: What advice would you offer to aspiring artists, musicians and film makers trying to make it today?

Yemisi Mokuolu:

  1. Make sure you know your craft; as a surgeon spends years studying, you should respect your talent as such and hone your skills to the highest level. This will ensure that you can stay in the game and remain at the top of your game.
  2. Grow a fan base before you approach a manager or a producer. Be super popular and you’ll have managers and producers fighting over you, and also giving you the terms that you want. Social media is your best ally.
  3. Read contracts! Understand contracts! Sign contracts! Don’t be scared to negotiate good contract terms. Make friends with lawyers and accountants at College/University, so they can advise you!!
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