Nigeria Cultural Mission: CANEX, Campus Conversations & Diaspora Connections

The Nigeria mission connected an international creative-economy event, the local creative and university community, and diaspora networks in Lagos. Each engagement had its own setting and purpose; the work was in connecting the people and delivering the visit across them.

CANEX in Lagos convened over 15,000 delegates across the wider event. That figure describes CANEX as a whole, not the audience for Dr King SMADE’s individual panel.

Dr King SMADE spoke on African Sound: From Movement to Market. I facilitated his speaking booking, road-managed the visit, maintained the relationships around the engagement and handled PR. He was the speaker and cultural leader; my remit was his engagement and mission delivery, rather than organising CANEX itself.

I worked with MadHouse and the University of Lagos on A Conversation with Dr King SMADE, connecting the visit with the local creative and university community.

The supplied photographs document arrival, conversations and a visit through MadHouse’s art spaces. My contribution was the relationship and coordination work around the engagement, while Dr King SMADE led the conversation as the invited speaker.

We subsequently hosted a Diaspora Roundtable, which I helped bring together as part of the Nigeria mission.

The wider Diaspora Roundtables series creates curated conversations connecting culture, diaspora networks, enterprise and practical collaboration. That is the context for the series, rather than a claim about specific agreements or outcomes from the Nigeria edition.

My work joined the speaking booking, road management, PR and relationship management around the visit. I worked with MadHouse and the University of Lagos on the campus engagement and helped host the subsequent roundtable, carrying the mission between its different settings.