Indigenous Art Festival ’25 to celebrate Asaba as UNESCO Creative City with youth-driven cultural showcase

* Ajeluorou, Asogwa to headline festival with reading, storytelling

By Godwin Okondo

THE City of Asaba, Delta State, perched on the bank of River Niger, is set to host the second Indigenous Art Festival ‘360 from September 26 – 28, 2025, and has as theme ‘Bringing Youth to the Table for the Next Decade.’ The festival will celebration Asaba for its designation as a UNESCO Creative City under Film category, joining 54 other cities recently added to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). This recognition affirms Asaba’s commitment to using culture and creativity as a central pillar for sustainable urban development. The other Nigerian city also designated for its Crafts and Folk Art including poettry is Bida, Niger State.

The Indigenous Cultural Center, situated within Delta State Film and Tourism Village, Anwai-Asaba, which is organizing the festival, aligns its strategic focus with UNESCO’s global cultural agenda. The event comes ahead of World Cities Day celebration on October 31, 2025, marking the conclusion of UNESCO’s Urban October. 55 cities are designated to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for their innovative, human-centred urban planning and strong commitment to embedding culture and creativity in their development frameworks. With this addition, the UCCN now comprises 350 cities across more than 100 countries in fields such as Film, Literature, Music, Design, Media Arts, Gastronomy, and Crafts and Folk Art.

The festival in Asaba aims to contribute meaningfully to UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically Goal 11, which focuses on making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. The Indigenous Cultural Center will showcase how culture and creativity can support urban sustainability by providing platforms for artistic expression and dialogue.

Highlights of the event include dance, film, visual arts, poetry and drama performances that reflect resilience, inclusivity, creativity, and sustainability.

Among the scheduled events is ‘Dance for the City, a performance by Blaze Africa Theatre, Asaba that celebrate the resilience of the city from the post-Nigerian Civil War era to modern times. A film screening will be held at the Amphitheatre of Delta State Film and Tourism Village in honour of Asaba’s creative designation. A visual arts exhibition titled ‘360 Cities on Canvas,’ in collaboration with the Departmentof Fine and Applied Art of Denis Osadebay University (DOU), whose students will paint the member cities of the UCCN. A dramatic presentation by Blaze Africa Theatre House will explore storytelling rooted in local culture and fairness.

The festival will feature a rich array of artistic expressions and discussions that highlight Asaba’s cultural heritage and creative vitality. A key event ‘Conversations with Ekumeku Warriors’ Grand Children’ will feature visual artist Mr. Enyi Echezona Jr. as guest grandchild to commemorate Ekumeku Warriors Day. Ekumeku Movement spanned 1883 through 1914 and consisted of a series of uprisings against the incursions of the Royal Niger Company from who the British Empire would later acquired Nigeria. The Ekumeku Warriors comprised of a network of communities in present-day Delta North (Anioma region) who resisted the British incursion inland into the country through their region, as the Royal Niger Company established its base on the banks of the River Niger at Asaba.

Additionally, a poetry reading an d conversation by journalist and writer Mr. Anote Ajeluorou, drawn from his collection Libations for Africa, will explore themes of cultural identity and sustainability. The programme also includes a reenactment of Nnaemezie Asogwa’s Mourning and Remembrance that showcases storytelling rooted in mourning local traditions also rooted in Ekumeku war dead.

Ajeluorou commended the work of Washinton Uba-led Indigenous Culture Center, organisers of Indigenous Art Festival ‘360 for its work in enerising the culture space in his native Delta with a series of activities all year round, adding, “All roads lead to the Indigenous Cultural Centre in September. Mr. Uba deserves all our support for what he is doing by promoting local talents in Delta State. Establishing the Indigenous Culture Center is no small feat. I call on the state government and culture lovers generally to support the work of the centre with funding, so more talented young Deltans can find outlet to display their talents and be better trained and equipped for the future.”

Mr. Washington Uba

The celebration also aligns with outcomes from the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (MONDIACULT 2022), which reaffirms culture as a global public good and advocated for its integration into public policy at the local level. The Indigenous Art Festival 2025 will foster local and international cooperation, stimulate the cultural sector, promote citizens’ engagement and encourage multilevel collaboration for sustainable tourism and development.

According to the founder and festival director, Mr. Uba, “Celebrating Asaba as a UNESCO Creative City under Film category is to reflect and reenact her inherent potential over the years in creativity, inclusivity, resilience and sustainability in the contemporary world through visual and peforming arts.

“Filmmakers who have found a home in Asaba are the true warriors of one of Nigeria’s modern and blooming cities. They are the modern-day ‘Elumeku Warriors’ that we are celebrating. And UNESCO’s recognition of the works of these filmmakers silences the voices of those who think producers and directors making films in Asaba lack cinematic direction or finesse. In spite of the fact that Nollywood, as we know it today, started in Lagos, UNESCO didn’t accord Lagos such important status. What does this tell us? Let the academics debate this.

“Yes, while there’s room for improvement in the films being produced in Asaba, let no one look down on what’s happening in Asaba. At the Indigenous Culture Center, we offer our encouragement to our filmmakers and ask them to raise their game, so they can attain Netflix-standard and attract big budgets for their films. The film village is here for their use. Let them dig in and continue to make Asaba proud of its cultural heritage, as the only city perched on the banks of River Niger duly recognised by a global body like UNESCO. Let’s drink our ancestors’ special frothing palmwine to this unmistakable cultural feat!”

By serving as a culture-powered public space, the Indigenous Cultural Center offers a model for how cities can use the arts to address urban challenges and create inclusive environments. The festival is expected to be a convergence point for artists, stakeholders, and the public, contributing to policy discourse and creative strategies that enhance urban life through culture.

Sunset scenic shot of Indigenous Cultural Center, Asaba