It is yet another edition of your beautiful culture companion, the Culture Quarterly, an important edition that captures important events and opinions expressed in the first quarter of this year 2026.
We met our projections last year with a preview edition that captured the culture, arts and creative industry scene of the first quarter of 2025. And we followed it with three subsequent editions that succinctly laid out how the industry progressed throughout the year.
This current edition continues the journey of a quarterly appraisal of everything that went down between January and March.
And what a loaded quarter it was, coming with a blast after the busy Q4 of last year, which rode nicely on the wings of Detty December.
This year started with a bang with Africa’s biggest music awards platform, the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), returning to Lagos for a spectacular 9th edition.
If anyone was initially worried when the awards ceremony was postponed from its initially scheduled November 2025 date, the bang with which the five-day event held in January suceeded in convincing all and sundry that with AFRIMA, the entertainment scene was ready to roar this year.
But it wasn’t only music that got all the attention in the last quarter. The celebrations were plenty and we captured quite a bit of it.
The 15th year celebration of I Represent International Documentary Film Festival (iRep) was one of those. It came big, yet again, this year and with a new partner too – Eco Bank, which yielded its spacious centre and exhibition space at its head office in Lagos to host the five-day festival.
IREP was about great documentary films as it was about discovering fresh talents, which is why the gentlemen behind this impactful showoiece, Femi Odugbemi, Awam Amkpa, Jahman Anikulapo and Ilemakin Soyinka, deserve commendation.
Big cultural events also dominated the space last quarter. From Argungu Fishing and Culture Festival in Kebbi State, where Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Tinibu, was present and showed palpable excitement; to the Lisabi Day celebration in Abeokuta, Ogun State and of course the global awards ceremonies like the Oscars and BAFTA, we captured and recreated all the fun and fanfare for your enjoyment and documentation.
This is the reason why CQ came into being – to celebrate and document those special days and occasions that brought joy and useful thoughts to the creative sector.
Art exhibitions, theatrical performances, books and collaborations have ample spaces in this edition. So are controversies, especially about the greatness of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the brilliance of WhizKid.
You will be reminded of some of the cerebral arguments, and in general why Nigeria is a 234-code and 364-days of raw energy when it comes to the culture space.
These are the type of stories we love to serve you quarterly in our usual style and in line with our mission.
Don’t forget to enjoy our ‘Words on Marble’ quote below as we welcome you into this beautiful edition of the Culture Quarterly.
