We want more Africans at Ebedi
Residency – Okediran
By Editorial- May 5,
2019
About 40 of our participants have
come from the rest of Africa
The
Ebedi Residency, a writers resort established nine years ago by the medical
doctor, politician and writer, Wale Okediran, remains a trail-blazer in the
field of arts residencies in these parts as The Difference Newspaper found out
when it reached out to its founder for a status report.
A
former General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, Okediran
had set up the residency to assist other writers in finding space to work while
also providing mentorship opportunities for young people in his home community.
Excerpts:
How
long precisely has the Ebedi Residency been running and would you say you are
satisfied with the journey so far?
The
Residency was declared open by Prof Femi Osofisan and the King of Iseyin, the
Aseyin Oba AbdulGaniyu Ologunebi on August 31 2010.
My
satisfaction has stemmed from the impressive response the Residency has
garnered from the presence of about 120 Residents from 10 different countries.
Also that these Residents have also gone ahead to mentor more than 600
secondary school students in Iseyin and environs since their sojourn in the
Residency.
Are
you satisfied with the number of finished works from the project? Are there
some things you would want to do to improve on this score?
Many
of the residents such as Elnathan John, Salamatu Sule, Yewande Omotoso, Ayobami
Adebayo, Kofi Sackey (Ghana) Igoni Barrett, Barbara Oketta (Uganda) Doreen
Baingana (Uganda) Nkateko Masinga (South Africa) and Richard Ali among
others were able to produce outstanding works which have gone on to win local
and international literary awards during their time in Ebedi.
The
only improvement is to see more of the works produced at the Residency to win
more laurels to the glory of the writers and the Residency.
Running
a resort like Ebedi surely involves some fairly sizeable costs. Our information
is that you have largely borne this cost outlay personally. Is this still the
case? Are we to expect other donor inputs soon?
Unfortunately,
it is still the case. All our efforts in the last few years to attract support
from Corporate Organisations and Philanthropists have not yielded the desired
effect. Nevertheless, we are still appealing to donors to assist the
project.
Have
you had situations like say difficult attitudes from participants or even
logistical challenges, that have taxed you in the course of running this
project this far?
Most
of the Residents have performed wonderfully well. Apart from a few Writers who
did not fully understood the workings of a Residency and therefore could not
fully utilise the facilities provided, we have not had any problems with the
Residents.
In
addition, the mentoring aspect of the project which regularly promotes interaction
between the Residents and the community has made the writers to be very popular
in Iseyin town so much so that many of the Residents are always eager to repeat
their visit to the Residency.
Our
main challenge remains finance. Apart from the weekly allowances for the
writers, the monthly salaries for the workers as well as utility bills can
sometimes be challenging when expected personal funds are late in coming in.
How
many non-Nigerian participants have you had in the course of this project? Any
plans to increase their quota?
Out
of the 120 Residents that have participated so far in the Residency Program,
about 40 have come from outside Nigeria.
Yes.
We are always eager to have more non-Nigerians in the Residency. The challenge
is the difficulty in getting them air tickets for their trips to Nigeria. We
currently have a working relationship with a Belgium-based Organisation; Africa
Moves Arts (AMA) to provide flight tickets for prospective writers. AMA has
very strict requirements which some of the writers find difficult to meet and
so, there have been occasional delays in having enough foreign based writers in
the residency. All the same, we are eager to increase both the number of both
Nigerian and Non-Nigerian Residents that come to the Residency once we have
enough funds to do so.
Is
funding of the scheme tax-deductible at the moment? Should it be? Would this
help in attracting support and grants?
Donations
to charity and non-profit organisations are by law, tax deductible.
Unfortunately, some Corporate Organisations and Philanthropists are not usually
aware of this. This is why we usually draw the attention of prospective donors
to this very important advantage.
Dr
Wale Okediran, Founder, Ebedi Residency, Iseyin, Nigeria
I would love to apply for this residency. I am a poet from the West Indies. How does one apply?
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