LIMCAF 2022 will be bigger, better says Kalu

By Janefrances Chibuzor

Organisers of Life In My City Art Festival(LIMCAF), is set to introduce new prize categories at the award ceremony this year.

According to the Art Director Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF), Dr. Ayo Adewunmi, this year’s theme ‘Paradox of Muted Echoes’,

suggests that things may not always be the way they are perceived. “It also seems to suggest that sometimes, silence being a vital part of sound, may be a potent device, to enable us hear from within, but it still presents a paradox.”

He disclosed that the grand finale exhibition will open on Saturday October 22 through Saturday October 29, for the award night at International Conference Centre, Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu.

According to him, the selection process for LIMCAF 2022 was in three stages.

He said that the first stage involved online election by a national jury of works that are suitable for regional exhibition in eight regions in the country.

He also said that the second stage had to do with the physical exhibition of selected entries in the region. “At this stage the Local Jury will sight the physical works and select best artworks that will be part of the Top 100 for the Grand Finale Exhibition in Enugu, he added.

He stated that the third stage was the grand finale exhibition of the Top 100 Artworks in Enugu. “At this stage the National Jury will assemble in Enugu to review, rank the Top 100 Artworks as well as decide the various Awards,” he noted.

The LIMCAF 2022 features a number of prizes and awards which include an overall winner will go home with N500,000.00, while best in painting/mixed media/drawing takes N250,000.00.

Other prizes include best sculpture/installation Art, best ceramics works, best graphics /digital art, photography/video, best textile art/fashion would each get 250, ooo.

According to him, there are consolation prizes as well as endowment prizes from individuals and family, ranging from N200,000 to N100,000.

“LIMCAF is the biggest youth art event in Nigeria, featuring visual art competition, festival lectures, school children’s and art teacher’ workshops and multimedia workshops,” he said.

Adewunmi said that for over 15 years, the festival had helped to sustain a pan-Nigeria art competition that offered young people an avenue to showcase and commercialise their productions.

“It further provides an opportunity for them to interact with the larger art communities, nationally and internationally,” he said.

He further said that the event had involved young people in a national interactive visual art fiesta in various centres across the country.

“This has enabled them to meaningfully express themselves in the state of their lived environment through their art,” Mr Adewunmi said.

For the Chairman, LIMCAF Board of Trustees, Elder K. U. Kalu who had guaranteed that this year’s grand finale promises to be the gorgeous and interesting based on the quality of the art entries, stressing, “the support received from the MTN and Ford Foundation as wells as the support from the LIMCAF’s Patrons, His Majesty, Igwe Nnnameka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha and Emeritus Professor El Anatsui.”